Ideology links ‘lone wolf’ attacks

The radical gunmen who launched terror attacks in Ottawa, Paris and Copenhagen were are all linked to the broader Islamist terrorist movement in Iraq and Syria, says the French ambassador to Canada.

That’s the case, argued Nicolas Chapuis, even if the attackers did not have any direct contact with each other or the broader leadership of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, or ISIL.

“The so-called lone wolves that we have witnessed in Ottawa, Paris, Copenhagen are all united by this ideology of destruction,” Chapuis said in a recent interview. “This is linked — a very strong link. And we need to tackle the root of the problem.”

That underscores the need for countries such as Canada and France to co-ordinate their international and domestic efforts to fight terrorism, he said.

France and Canada are doing that as part of their shared contribution to the Western coalition fighting the ISIL advances in Iraq and Syria, and their joint efforts in battling their own homegrown terrorist threats.