TERRORISM TRENDS
It's time today to discuss a few points on terrorism. According to Intel Center, 1216 people have been killed in terror or rebel attacks this year and more than 1800 wounded. An IED attack occurs on average every 288 minutes and, on average, there is an attack on a market or mall every 18 hours and a hotel every 20 days. Vehicle-borne improvised explosive devices and improvised explosive devices are used on a daily-basis. The top centers for terrorism violence are Syria, Iraq, Somalia, Afghanistan, and Pakistan. The average number of people killed in a terrorist attack is 1.3 persons and the number wounded is 1.75 people. Very sadly, this problem is not going away and the cancer has been allowed to spread.
There are several worrying trends outside of the statistics. First and foremost, active shooter attacks such as the attack in Orlando last year on the night club Pulse or the attack on our Parliament building in Ottawa, Canada, are increasing. Vehicle attacks that started with Palestinian terrorists mowing down innocent by-standers in Israel have been expanded to the terrorist tactical repertoire of Al Qaeda and the Islamic State and have been used in Europe and in Canada. Improvised explosive devices are increasing in their technologic sophistication and lethality. The Islamic State is now using drones to drop explosives in Syria and Iraq, could Europe’s markets be far off? We have seen in the past large terrorist groups like Hezbollah and the Islamic State use rockets and missiles against civilian and military targets. Last but not least, terrorist groups with access to cash, territory, and scientific know how, have been able to create Chemical and Biological weapons such as the Rajneeshees in the United States in 1984 that put salmonelle in salad bars, and Aum Shinrikyo the doomsday cult that carried out sarin nerve gas attacks on Tokyo Japan’s subway system in 1995. Al Qaeda and the Islamic state have experimented with and used chemical weapons and shown an interest in biological and radiological weapons. Al Qaeda even approached the infamous Pakistan A.Q. Khan nuclear smuggling group around its top nuclear scientists to try and obtain a nuclear weapon.
In summary, there have been several terrorist incidents today around the globe, and there are no longer places that are immune to terrorist attack. Western Europe and North America can expect to see increased terror threats both home grown and those from outside, and they are increasingly sophisticated and lethal. Sadly, we saw our own anti-islamic terror attack at an Islamic cultural center in Quebec that took six lives just a week-ago. My message tonight, be vigilant.
