EMAD Al Swealmeen, an asylum
seeker from Iraq who was carrying a homemade bomb, arrived at the Liverpool
Women’s Hospital using a taxi a few days ago. When the bomb went off, it killed
him and injured the driver.
As a result, the terror threat
level in the UK has been increased to “severe,” indicating that another attack
is extremely likely.
Last month, Ali Harbi Ali, a
British citizen of Somali descent, was detained under the Terrorism Act for
stabbing Conservative MP Sir David Amess to death during a surgery with
constituents in Essex. In February last year, an Islamic State (ISIS) member
named Safiyya Shaikh was arrested after admitting to plotting to blow herself
up in an attack on St Paul’s Cathedral.
Sudesh Amman, another ISIS
terrorist who was just freed from prison, stabbed two victims in Streatham,
London, last year and injured another victim indirectly. He was sentenced to
prison for terrorism-related offences such as urging his fiancée to murder her
own parents, threatening to carry out a knife attack and gathering and
distributing terrorist material that may be used in terror acts, including a
hoard of bomb-making manuals.
Amman was sentenced to three
years and four months in prison, but after completing half of his term, he was
freed in January of this year. Despite being under severe supervision and
licence limitations, he rampaged his victims without any effort on Streatham’s
crowded High Street.
Boris Johnson, the UK Prime
Minister, demanded to know why a known terrorist like Amman was freed from
prison sooner than expected and promised to crackdown on these “sick terror offenders.”
He also wants to change the legislation to keep these kinds of criminals in
prison for extended periods of time.
Furthermore, at the time, the
head of UK counter-terrorism, Neil Basu, stated that the unpredictable nature
of terrorists and terrorist acts, combined with a lack of intelligence, puts
enormous pressure on the Government to combat terrorism. In addition, he said
that terrorists use low-cost, simple tactics to attack soft targets.
Terrorist assaults in
Streatham and London Bridge obviously signalled the start of a new wave of such
incidents. Basu also mentioned that terrorists operate as lone wolves and use encryption
to communicate with one another. He also stated that, despite the fact that
attacks and preparation are less often currently, they are tough to predict and
eliminate.
Three similar attacks
involving religious militants using knives occurred in November 2019 in
Fishmongers’ Hall, HMP Whitemoor, and Streatham. In order to deceive security
services, these militants employed phoney suicide vests in similar attacks, and
they are known to the relevant UK agencies.
Terrorist attacks have been a
widespread occurrence since the beginning of 2019. Many people believe that
after al-Qaeda and ISIS were defeated, the world would be at peace without
“issues” from these terrorist groups.
However, the truth is rather
different.
When a suicide car bomber from
the Al-Shabaab terrorist group targeted Turkish and Somali authorities in
Afgooye, Somalia, in February last year, at least four persons were killed and
more than twenty were critically injured.
Last year, Malaysia’s Deputy
Home Minister Datuk Azis Jamman said that a local militant organisation is
collaborating with the Abu Sayyaf terrorist group to target tourists, primarily
in the Sabah’s east coast. Their primary goal is to abduct these foreigners and
hold them for ransom in order to support their terrorist activities.
Both the Philippines and
Indonesian security officials believe that the Abu Sayyaf group is receiving
assistance from Malaysians in abducting Westerners. PDRM has captured a number
of terrorists in relation to this connection since 2018, but bizarrely,
foreigners are still being kidnapped in Sabah.
In addition, Malaysia,
Indonesia, and the Philippines have formed a trilateral security pact to
address the problem, with Malaysia establishing the Eastern Sabah Security
Command (ESSCOM) to oversee the Eastern Sabah Security Zone (ESSZONE). This
shows that terrorists are employing some effective propaganda methods to
persuade and manipulate a quarter of the local population to accept their
cause.
Emboldened terrorists, how it
happened?
Why isn’t it possible to avoid
terrorist attacks? Aren’t the various global intelligence agencies’
countermeasures effective in halting the rise of terrorist strikes around the
world?
What motivates terrorism in
the first place?
In general, terrorists are unpredictable
by nature, making them difficult to deal with. For example, Usman Khan, who had
been released from jail for terrorist-related offences, stabbed five people in
London last November, killing two of them.
He was at an offender
rehabilitation conference at the time of the incident. He was also a strong
supporter of Al-Muhajiroun, a home-grown militant cell recognised by UK
intelligence and security authorities, as well as a personal friend of Anjem
Choudary, the organisation’s co-founder. Choudary is regarded as one of the
most well-known radical Islamist preachers in the UK>
The question now is whether
the UK’s de-radicalisation strategy is successful. If that was the case, the
London Bridge assault would not have happened. Choundary should have been
reformed, and he should have helped security forces detect and de-radicalise
other prospective terrorists but that was not the case.
Despite the fact that
prominent members of Al Muhajiroun, including Choundary, are being closely
monitored, they appear to be carrying out their “activities” undetected.
According to UK intelligence authorities, they are recruiting through internet
forums and holding regular smaller group meetings in secret locations.
One of the most important
tasks for intelligence and security personnel is to keep an eye on the
activities of hate preachers and “dubious” religious NGOs. In most cases, these
preachers and NGOs will cloak their operations under the guise of religion.
Terrorism-related occurrences cannot be completely eradicated unless security
agencies and government religious authorities work together to combat the
threats posed by these preachers and NGOs.
Terrorism is constantly
changing. Terrorists are “innovative” individuals who adapt to their
circumstances. Terrorist attacks no longer necessitate large sums of money or a
large group to coordinate, as in the 9/11 attack, Bali bombing and the Mumbai
assaults. The majority of today’s terrorist acts are self-funded and use
“unconventional” weaponry such as knives, automobiles and improvised explosive
devices (IEDs).
This “unconventional” method
of operation was demonstrated in the Villejuif, France event, in which Nathan
Chiasson stabbed three individuals, one of whom died. Last year, a suicide
bomber detonated an IED in a mosque in Quetta, Pakistan, killing more than 15
people and injuring at least 20, pointing to a resurgent trend of suicide
bombers.
The director-general of MI5
issued a warning in May 2019 about the threat presented by ISIS sympathisers.
Despite the fact that potential terrorists’ access to Syria has been
restricted, he claims that ISIS propaganda continues to inspire people.
Al-Muhajiroun’s attempt to attract returning Foreign Terrorist Fighters (FTFs)
and sympathisers in order to achieve its goal is worrisome.
Militant organisations such as
Al-Muhajiroun and hate preachers such as Anjem Choudary inspire not only locals
but also others to conduct acts of terrorism. For example, Abdul Lathief Jameel
Mohamed, one of the Easter Sunday terrorist attacks in Sri Lanka, was
radicalised by Choudary after attending his sermons in 2016.
Last year, the head of Bukit
Aman’s Special Branch Counter-Terrorism Division (E8) stated that 15 of the 56
Malaysians jailed in Syria had contacted the polce and expressed their desire
to return home. According to him, the Malaysian men who are returned to their
homeland would face charges in court, while the ladies will be evaluated for
their ideological influence. He went on to say that their children will also be
subjected to rehabilitation programmes.
After two years in detention,
Yazid Sufaat was freed from the Simpang Renggam detention centre in Malaysia.
In the last 18 years, he has been imprisoned three times for terrorism-related
acts.
The question now is if our de-radicalisation campaign is working and whether supporters, sympathisers, and terrorists can be rehabilitated. – Nov 21, 2021.
source: https://focusmalaysia.my/another-terror-attack-in-the-uk-why-are-counter-terrorism-agencies-failing/
Comments