Suicide bombers, precision-coordinated attacks, simultaneous blasts: in London or in Sharm el-Sheikh, the terrorists used the hallmark methods of al-Qaeda, even if experts agree the group hardly exists as a structured network.
Internet messages from al-Qaeda claiming responsibility for the attacks in Britain and Egypt, and warning of more to come, give the impression of a centrally commanded global jihad.
"Don't you know that the Al-Qaeda Organization is a fire that will catch all the enemies of God Almighty," warned a group, calling itself the Al-Qaeda Organization in the Levant and Egypt, as it claimed the bombings in the Egyptian resort Sharm el-Sheikh.
Like a mutant virus, the movement founded by Osama bin Laden evolved to adapt to international efforts to suppress world terrorism, according to Western experts. Al-Qaeda hardly has a hierarchical structure. Instead, the attacks are mostly carried out by local groups, acting with great autonomy.
"Automonous cells bent on jihad have appeared and will appear across the world, for some years to come," warned Jean-Luc Marret of the Foundation for Strategic Research, based in Paris.
"They appear spontaneously by the acts of facilitators of all kinds: it could be a self-proclaimed imam, a `big brother,' someone who professes to know `true Islam.' And one day they move into action, without having received any particular order from any guide," Marret said.
In a recent interview with the Arab-language Al Qods al-Arabi daily, Abou Jandal, a former bin Laden bodyguard in Afghanistan, said: "Every element of al-Qaeda is self-activated. Whoever finds a chance to attack just goes ahead. The decision is theirs. This is regardless of whether they pledged allegiance to Sheikh Osama bin Laden or not."
According to Paul Wilkinson of St. Andrews University in Scotland, "al-Qaeda has morphed, though that doesn't mean that Osama bin Laden has been pushed into oblivion.
"The core leadership is suffering from setbacks from when the Taliban was moved from power," he said. "But he [Bin Laden] still represents ideological leadership for them."
The structural network, set up in Sudan in the mid-1990s, has changed into a more nebulous organization, an ideological hub favoring "a bloody war in the service of God."
A French anti-terrorist judge explained: "The war in Iraq led to the dispersal of these groups. There are more and more individuals. The individuals we are working on often do not form part of a group, not even informally."
"These are people who, by themselves, are incensed by what they see on television in Israel or Iraq," said French criminologist Xavier Raufer. "They end up thinking there is a conspiracy against Islam and decide to react. They form cells. Most of them become discouraged, others break up, some fall into the police net. A few survive," he said.
Motivated by feelings of anger, frustration and injustice to the Muslim world more than by religion, the new terrorists are even more dangerous because they often choose the route of suicide attack.
In a city where it is impossible to escape the lens of half a million surveillance cameras, the suspects in the two London bombings never tried to hide their faces. They had no plan to survive. That makes them formidable enemies, with little room for counterattack by the police.
Archeologists in Peru on Thursday said they found the 5,000-year-old remains of a noblewoman at the sacred city of Caral, revealing the important role played by women in the oldest center of civilization in the Americas. “What has been discovered corresponds to a woman who apparently had elevated status, an elite woman,” archeologist David Palomino said. The mummy was found in Aspero, a sacred site within the city of Caral that was a garbage dump for more than 30 years until becoming an archeological site in the 1990s. Palomino said the carefully preserved remains, dating to 3,000BC, contained skin, part of the
‘WATER WARFARE’: A Pakistani official called India’s suspension of a 65-year-old treaty on the sharing of waters from the Indus River ‘a cowardly, illegal move’ Pakistan yesterday canceled visas for Indian nationals, closed its airspace for all Indian-owned or operated airlines, and suspended all trade with India, including to and from any third country. The retaliatory measures follow India’s decision to suspend visas for Pakistani nationals in the aftermath of a deadly attack by shooters in Kashmir that killed 26 people, mostly tourists. The rare attack on civilians shocked and outraged India and prompted calls for action against their country’s archenemy, Pakistan. New Delhi did not publicly produce evidence connecting the attack to its neighbor, but said it had “cross-border” links to Pakistan. Pakistan denied any connection to
TRUMP EFFECT: The win capped one of the most dramatic turnarounds in Canadian political history after the Conservatives had led the Liberals by more than 20 points Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney yesterday pledged to win US President Donald Trump’s trade war after winning Canada’s election and leading his Liberal Party to another term in power. Following a campaign dominated by Trump’s tariffs and annexation threats, Carney promised to chart “a new path forward” in a world “fundamentally changed” by a US that is newly hostile to free trade. “We are over the shock of the American betrayal, but we should never forget the lessons,” said Carney, who led the central banks of Canada and the UK before entering politics earlier this year. “We will win this trade war and
Armed with 4,000 eggs and a truckload of sugar and cream, French pastry chefs on Wednesday completed a 121.8m-long strawberry cake that they have claimed is the world’s longest ever made. Youssef El Gatou brought together 20 chefs to make the 1.2 tonne masterpiece that took a week to complete and was set out on tables in an ice rink in the Paris suburb town of Argenteuil for residents to inspect. The effort overtook a 100.48m-long strawberry cake made in the Italian town of San Mauro Torinese in 2019. El Gatou’s cake also used 350kg of strawberries, 150kg of sugar and 415kg of