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.
READINESS: According to a survey of 2,000 people, 86 percent of Swedes believe the country is worth defending in the event of a military attack Swedes are stocking up on food items in case of war, as more conflict in Europe no longer feels like a distant possibility, and authorities encourage measures to boost readiness. At a civil preparedness fair in southwest Stockholm, 71-year-old Sirkka Petrykowska said that she is taking the prospect of hostilities seriously and preparing as much as she can. “I have bought a camping stove. I have taken a course on preservation in an old-fashioned way, where you can preserve vegetables, meat and fruit that lasts for 30 years without a refrigerator,” Petrykowska said. “I’ve set aside blankets for warmth, I
FRUSTRATIONS: One in seven youths in China and Indonesia are unemployed, and many in the region are stuck in low-productivity jobs, the World Bank said Young people across Asia are struggling to find good jobs, with many stuck in low-productivity work that the World Bank said could strain social stability as frustrations fuel a global wave of youth-led protests. The bank highlighted a persistent gap between younger and more experienced workers across several Asian economies in a regional economic update released yesterday, noting that one in seven young people in China and Indonesia are unemployed. The share of people now vulnerable to falling into poverty is now larger than the middle class in most countries, it said. “The employment rate is generally high, but the young struggle to
ENERGY SHIFT: A report by Ember suggests it is possible for the world to wean off polluting sources of power, such as coal and gas, even as demand for electricity surges Worldwide solar and wind power generation has outpaced electricity demand this year, and for the first time on record, renewable energies combined generated more power than coal, a new analysis said. Global solar generation grew by a record 31 percent in the first half of the year, while wind generation grew 7.7 percent, according to the report by the energy think tank Ember, which was released after midnight yesterday. Solar and wind generation combined grew by more than 400 terawatt hours, which was more than the increase in overall global demand during the same period, it said. The findings suggest it is
‘ARMED CONFLICT’: At least 21 people have died in such US attacks, while experts say the summary killings are illegal even if they target confirmed narcotics traffickers US forces on Friday carried out a strike on an alleged drug-smuggling boat off the coast of Venezuela, killing four people, US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said. The latest strike, which Hegseth announced in a post on X, brings the number of such US attacks to at least four, leaving at least 21 people dead. An accompanying video shared by Hegseth showed a boat speeding across the waves before being engulfed in smoke and flames. “Four male narco-terrorists aboard the vessel were killed,” the Pentagon chief wrote. He said the strike “was conducted in international waters just off the
RSS