Call for global jihad must be countered
The unspeakable horror brought by Mohamed lahouaiej Bouhel, an Islamic State fanatic on July 14 at the Bastille Day celebrations in the French city of Nice is highly condemnable. It can rightly be described as one of the most horrific and brutal terror attack on revelers which shows how low the Islamic State (IS) can stoop to just for glorifying its Caliphate who is fast becoming ‘stateless'. An attack carried out on the ground by a loner, who had used a 19 tonne lorry to mow down the crowd, finally taking the lives of more than 84 people, can be called a serious security lapse for sure.
The Government could have installed enough security checks to a place wherein people were celebrating the National Day. Further, Nice, being a city from where maximum number of Muslims have joined the IS and is always on the security radar, the Government should have left no chance for such an attack. It is also strange that Nice, one of France's heavily policed city with nearly 600 municipal officers and other intelligence agents for a population of 342, 000, should have been successful in averting an attack of a single terrorist who was driving his murderous truck for nearly a mile-long killing spree. It is the third terrorist attack targeting the masses in less than eight months in Western Europe is fast generating anxiety across, fearing more such incidents.
This attack was not simply targeting the European continent but also is raising the ugly heads of single terror strikers who will possibly be on the rise around the world. As IS is losing its territorial assets in every passing day, its frustration is growing and now it appeals its followers to hit the group's enemies beyond Syria and Iraq. Abu Muhammad al-Adnani, the spokesman of the IS, said in May that IS fights no more for territory. It can be seen as an abrupt and remarkable shift from its earlier strategy of grabbing territories and establishing a global Islamic governance system on the lines of strict Sharia directives. Adnani was stressing more on carrying out the smallest action possible in the heartland of their enemies for enduring effect on the Muslims around the world.
The IS is near certain that it is going to lose its last bastions of Raqqa and Mosul though its soldiers are expected to defend them ferociously. Therefore many individuals and groups affiliated to IS have responded to his call by resorting to murderous attacks in places such as Orlando, Istanbul, Baghdad, Jeddah, and Dhaka have killed hundreds recently. And the attack on the people in Nice was one such and it was either directed by IS or merely inspired by its call for an international Islamic caliphate.
But for the conservative politicians of France it was nothing but the failure of the Socialist Government of François Hollande which seemed to be utterly careless in foiling such security threats on an important occasion like this. Now the question is whether the Government provided adequate national police forces for the fireworks at display in Nice and it will badly hunt Hollande's party when France is heading for presidential election next year. It is hoped that France will remain stronger as ever than the infidels who killed innocent civilians, in this tragic moment of national grief. It is high time that the international community must redouble its efforts to intensify the global war on terror.