THE attack appears depressingly similar to several others in recent years in France. On March 23rd a young man, reportedly of north African origin and of declared allegiance to the so-called Islamic State, spread terror by shooting random unarmed victims: the occupants of a passing car in the south-western town of Carcassonne; policemen out jogging; and finally shoppers in a supermarket in Trèbes, a village of 5,000 people a few kilometres to the east. He might have imagined the police would be slow to react in such a small community.
The attacker, who screamed “Allahu akbar” (God is great) as he went about his work, tried to prolong the assault by taking hostages, a tactic used by other violent extremists in France and elsewhere, most notably at the Bataclan theatre in Paris in November 2015, where 90 people died. The goal, in such cases, appears to be to attract as much attention as possible, and to stir up public frustration if police are slow to respond. This time, the reaction was relatively swift. By mid-afternoon, three hours after...Continue reading
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