ISIL launches a week of terror
Terrorists strike in three cities in separate countries in past week.
Terrorists struck three cities in separate countries in the past week, dealing a tumultuous blow to safety in those regions and heightening fears of the militants’ capabilities and where they could strike next.
The reign of terror includes Sunday’s massive suicide bombing in Baghdad that killed more than 150 people, the weekend hostagetaking at a restaurant in the Bangladeshi capital of Dhaka that left 22 dead and Tuesday’s bombing at the Istanbul airport that killed 44.
The massacres demonstrate that the Islamic State has established cells around the world — and is still capable of heinous attacks despite its recent setbacks on the battlefield.
“The Islamic State is losing territory in Iraq and Syria, but it is still a formidable opponent and very dangerous,” Bruce Riedel, a former CIA officer and an analyst with the Brookings Institution, said Sunday.
The militant group claimed responsibility for the assaults in Baghdad and Dhaka and is suspected of being responsible for the Istanbul bombing.
Since the Islamic State has suffered losses over the past two years in more conventional military operations, the extremist group is focusing on guerrilla warfare and terrorism, said Daniel Byman, a professor at Georgetown University’s Walsh School of Foreign Service.
He said the more desperate the Islamic State becomes, the more the group, also known as ISIL or ISIS, will rely on amateurs. BAGHDAD
Sunday’s attack in Baghdad — the deadliest in a year and one of the worst in more than a decade of war and insurgency — reflects a shift in strategy for the Islamic State. As the militant group has been pushed out of territory it controls in Iraq and Syria, it has resorted to more conventional terrorist attacks against civilian targets.
The truck bombing comes one week after U.S.-backed Iraqi forces recaptured Fallujah, a city about 35 miles west of the capital, which was a major defeat for the terrorist organization. DHAKA
A 10-hour siege ended Saturday at a restaurant in the heart of the capital city’s diplomatic quarter with 20 hostages and two policemen dead. Hostages unable to quote from the Quran were pulled aside and hacked or knifed to death. Police killed six of the terrorists.
“In the case of ISIS and its connection to international terrorism in Bangladesh, they have mentioned the country several times in
Dabiq, their online journal,” Sajjan Gohel, the international security director at the Asia Pacific Foundation, told CNN. “They talked about the fact that they were going to carry out more attacks, they were going to increase the tempo, and they were calling for volunteers from Bangladesh to join them.” ISTANBUL
Three suspected Islamic State terrorists blew themselves up late Tuesday at Ataturk Airport.
Residents said they were bracing for something like this to happen again in Turkey, which has endured nearly 20 terrorist attacks that killed 300 people and injured more than 1,000 others in the past year.
“Almost every month since June 2015, there have been suicide bombings all over the country,” said Ege Memis, 24, a student. “The only protection people have is their luck.”