There was a time when terror struck innocent people via guns and bombs, something people in India and many other countries are only too familiar with. Then 9/11 happened and ever since then things have started changing. Al-Qaeda, the Taliban and now ISIS, all terrorist organisations, among others who have realised over the years that it was time to lower things down to the lowest common denominator. One man can create a lot of havoc. This time it was London. First he drove his car as close to Parliament House as possible, mowing down a few people in the process. Then he stabbed and killed a police officer, before eventually being shot by another officer. One man, armed with a knife and a car, managed to injure around 20 people, kill another three people and scare thousands, perhaps millions in London.
Terror organisations have realized the futility in waging war against armies, where any victory is pyrrhic. The organisations still employ bombers, but they vary their tactics. ISIS is fighting many battles in Syria, but they still manage to wage war on Europe. Deploy one or a handful of people who can wage a different war, on the ground, with unarmed and innocent women, men and children; an effective way of spreading terror. And it’s working.
Look at the past year or so in Europe. In December 2016, a truck plowed through a Christmas market in Berlin, killing a dozen people and injuring a few dozen more. In July, again in Germany two separate incidents injured almost 20 people. One attack involved a suicide bomber at an open air concert, while the other involved a man with an axe on a train. A few days before the train incident, a man in Nice, France drove a truck through a crowd of people celebrating Bastille Day. More than 80 people were killed. For people in these countries, nowhere is safe anymore. Not your train or your park, or even the street where you are shopping.
The London attack at Westminster Bridge comes a year to the day after the deadly bombing in Brussels. They was prepared for an incident such as this. The police and other authorities have been ready for a terror incident, from a bomb to a single person attack. Yet, even they could not predict what could happen. All they could do was try and minimize casualties. Despite that many died and many more were injured.
So where do we go from here? There is no proper direction, really. This new form of ‘guerilla warfare’ is making people cower in terror. No matter what countries do, ban travel or increase security, there is always going to be that one person who will change everything in five minutes. But that doesn’t mean that we need to give up.
