Toulouse shooting: the rise of the ‘just do it’ terrorists

Al-Qaeda’s ability to launch large-scale terrorist attacks against the West on
the scale of September 11 has been severely diminished as a result of the
relentless assault on its command and control centres in southern
Afghanistan and Pakistan. Intelligence officials believe that about two
thirds of al-Qaeda’s original leadership have been killed or captured during
the past decade — including Osama bin Laden, the movement’s founder

Al-Qaeda’s terrorist masterminds would still prefer to focus on transatlantic
aircraft, commuter trains and transport hubs. Its senior lieutenants have
even expressed an interest in detonating “dirty” nuclear bombs in the
centres of major financial hubs, such as New York and London, which would
have a devastating impact on the global economy.

But intelligence experts believe al-Qaeda no longer has the organisational
capacity to conduct such attacks. Instead they are focusing their energy on
softer targets.

The Mumbai terrorist attacks in November 2008, when a gang of al-Qaeda
terrorists carried out a series of carefully co-ordinated shootings and
bombing attacks, killing 164 people, was seen as the first example of this
new tactic.

Following this week’s atrocities in southern France, British security
officials are now concerned that al-Qaeda may be planning similar attack on
this summer’s Olympic Games in London.

It doesn’t matter how many anti-aircraft batteries or Typhoon interceptors you
have deployed for the Games if a group of al-Qaeda terrorists decide to
attack the crowd with home-made bombs, knives and guns.

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