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VEHICULAR ATTACKS ARE becoming one of the most common tools that terrorists use, according to the Counter Extremism Project (CEP).
Following on from the tragic incident in Barcelona yesterday where a van rammed into crowds on a busy shopping street, killing 13 and injuring over 80 people, CEP says that since 2006 it has documented 31 terrorist attacks that used vehicles.
It also said that it has noticed an increase since 2014 in the number of attacks carried out using vehicles.
The CEP is a non-profit body that was originally set up in the US. It now has a base in six American and European cities, including Dublin. Its purpose is to counter extremism in practical ways.
It says attacks using vehicles resulted in the deaths of at least 170 people and the injuring of at least 909 others over the past 11 years.
According to CEP, the recent increase seems to be largely down to explicit calls from ISIS to use cars as weapons.
It said that in mid-November of last year, Islamic State published an article on its online magazine, Rumiyah, calling for its followers to carry out vehicular attacks.
The article specified the ideal type, weight, and speed of a car needed for terror purposes, and encouraged attacks on “large outdoor conventions and celebrations, pedestrian-congested streets, outdoor markets, festivals… parades, [and] political rallies”.
Unrelated to Islamic State, this week also saw an attack in which a car was used: a woman named Heather Heyer was killed in Charlottesville in the USA by a car that ploughed into anti-racism protestors.
Recent vehicle attacks
On 19 June, a van ploughed into a crowd of Muslims near a London mosque, leaving one man dead and injuring 10 people. The suspected terrorist reportedly shouted “I’m going to kill all Muslims”.
It was the second terror attack in the British capital that month.
Two weeks before that, on 3 June, jihadists used a van and knives to kill eight people enjoying a night out around London Bridge. Three of the victims were French.
During that incident, a white rental van was driven into pedestrians on London Bridge before the attackers went on a knife rampage at pubs and restaurants in Borough Market, the attack happened just before 10pm on a Saturday night.
On 19 June, a car loaded with guns and a gas bottle was rammed into a police van on the Champs-Elysees in Paris. The assailant died in the incident but there were no injuries.
It’s understood the attack was carried out by a man who had been on France’s security watchlist since 2015 over ties to “the radical Islamist movement”.
A van was also used in the Westminster terror attack on 22 March where five people were killed and 49 injured.
Khalid Masood, 52, drove a car into pedestrians on Westminster Bridge. He stabbed policeman Keith Palmer to death.
Masood sent a message on WhatsApp announcing his intention to ‘wage jihad’ minutes before launching his assault.
Attackers tend to use digital platforms before and after the attacks. According to CEP, comments and videos flooded onto Pro-IS social media channels following yesterday’s attack in Barcelona.
France
France remains under a state of emergency after the November 2015 attacks in Paris, when IS jihadists killed 130 people at venues across the city.
Previous major attacks targeted the Paris offices of the Charlie Hebdo satirical magazine in January 2015.
A senior police officer and his female companion were both killed by a radicalised man at their home in the Paris suburbs a year ago.
And in July last year, a radicalised Tunisian man killed 86 people as he rammed a truck through a crowd watching Bastille Day fireworks in the Riviera city of Nice.
Additional reporting by AFP.
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They are doing great work but we should do everything to keep our own healthcare workers here.
@Munster1: having immigrants working here means that at least some of the pressure is taken off overworked staff meaning that staff don’t leave the job or country in search of better working conditions as much
@Munster1: I remember going to Kerry for holidays as a kid and asking my mum what language they were speaking… it’s also sometimes hard to understand some accents. Instead of forcing it why not provide classes as anyone who comes here is eager to learn English…
Make fluent English one of the criteria. Some of them are impossible to understand. Also, make citizenship conditional upon HSE employment.
@Benny McHale: Having worked in Healthcare for more than 20 years, I have encountered many non-EU employees. All of the non-EU doctors and nurses I have met speak fluent English. Some of my Irish colleagues are not quite so easy to understand.
@Benny McHale: the majority of foreign medical staff in ireland are fluent English speakers but much like Kerry people their accent makes it difficult to understand….
@Benny McHale: The article was perfectly clear and articulate. If I had to be hospitalised I’d certainly appreciate being treated by a doctor capable of speaking out when necessary. Certainly not one that settled for struggling in silence for fear of what people might imagine. Everyone needs some hope that they can progress in life.
We are producing enough of our own at significant cost to not to have to do this.
@Bill ORourke: not everyone who graduates wants to stay in Ireland and they shouldn’t feel like they have to, and some will go abroad for a few years experience
@Bill ORourke: no we’re not.
@Sam Harms: isn’t that more of a case to better the working conditions in Ireland. For the Irish people. Rather than setting the bar lower and lower and staffing the country with foreigners in the first place? It’s only putting a bandage over the wound the country is continuing to cut into itself.
This is a consequence of brain drain of the last decade as a result of failed policy to retain talent.. Recent survey from nurses graduates showed over 70% are planning to emigrate.
How about paying student nurses Donnelly…. their the backbone of the health sector. Which you are missing…..
We produce more than enough doctors and nurses- highest per capita in Europe- that is Irish doctors alone excluding the foreign students who also graduate here.
The issue here is that doctors and nurses are leaving for better conditions overseas and in the private sector. 20% of consultant postions in the public sector are unfilled.
Asking him to do something.. Like that’s gonna work.
Thumbs up
Good for Ireland, not so good for the countries these badly needed professionals are leaving behind.
Wow how fast can these guys respond to a trending story however merited but take years to deal with true problems like paid sick leavefor workers, nurses retention, poor public transport systems etc
These articles about immigrants in Ireland are always guaranteed to bring out the whataboutery, closet xenophobia and racism…
This is bound to just create some form of “look after own” thread .
@Paul Hayes: are you suggesting that looking after our own is a bad thing?
@Cormac McCarthy: Cormac, our own are not here today to care for our own. .. it’s a pandemic and our own choose to look after themselves.
have your say