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SRILANKA-ATTACKS-JIHADISTS-IRAQ-SYRIA
Sri Lanka attacks show Islamic State influence outlives caliphate
PARIS, April 23, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – The devastating bomb attacks in Sri
Lanka, claimed by Islamic State jihadists, show that the influence of the
group’s extremist ideology remains dangerously intact even after the collapse
of its so-called caliphate in Iraq and Syria, experts say.
Over 320 people were killed in a string of deadly suicide bomb blasts on
Easter Sunday in Sri Lanka targeting churches and luxury hotels.
Colombo said it believes that the little-known Islamic extremist group
National Thowheeth Jama’ath (NTJ) was behind the attacks.
But it has also suggested that a bigger international group helped plan the
carnage as “retaliation” for shootings at two mosques in New Zealand last
month that killed 50 people.
On Tuesday, a statement released by the Islamist State (IS) propaganda
agency Amaq said the attackers were “fighters” from the terror network.
Zachary Abuza, professor at the National War College in Washington, said
the Sri Lanka attacks were a warning of a new jihadist strategy following
their military defeat in Iraq and Syria.
“I would say that what we saw in Sri Lanka is a new front being opened in
the global jihadi insurgency,” he told AFP.
He said IS was still able to inspire attacks and give militants anywhere in
the world a sense of “urgency”.
“Anyone can act in the Islamic State’s name, and they will take credit for
it,” Abuza said.
– ‘Compensate for losses’ –
Rohan Gunaratna, a security expert with the S. Rajaratnam School of
International Studies in Singapore, told AFP he believed NTJ was indeed now
linked to IS.
“IS has created support groups around the world,” he said, adding that some
NTJ members were radicalised by the local group then joined IS.
At the peak of its military success, IS claimed a string of attacks around
the world, from the November 2015 coordinated attacks in Paris to the deadly
rampage of a gunman at an Istanbul nightclub minutes into 2017.
In late March, Kurdish-dominated and US-backed forces flushed out IS
fighters from their last bastion in Syria in what was hailed as a final
military defeat for the group after it list its strongholds one-by-one in
Syria and Iraq.
But governments and analysts have always warned that the risk of attacks
anywhere in the world remains just as high, be it from extremists who fought
for IS in Syria and Iraq or those simply inspired by them.
After the Sri Lanka bombings, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo warned that
“radical Islamic terror remains a threat”, saying the United States needs to
stay “active and vigilant”.
According to the SITE Intelligence Group, a known supporter of IS published
on a social media channel pictures of three purported “commandos” involved in
the Sri Lanka attacks standing with raised fingers against an IS flag.
Jean-Pierre Filiu, professor at Sciences Po-Paris, said IS is now adopting
what he dubbed a “glocal” strategy by staging local attacks anywhere in a bid
to make a global impact.
The jihadist group is “trying to compensate symbolically and in the media
for the loss of its strongholds in Syria and Iraq and instead relaunch a
terrorist campaign on a planetary scale”. – ‘Serious proposition’ –
Bruce Hoffmann, senior fellow for counterterrorism and homeland security
at the Council on Foreign Relations, said such attacks require considerable
expertise and logistical support at every stage — from recruitment to
transport to the target sites.
“A half-dozen simultaneous attacks is a serious proposition. It would be
very unusual for a group that basically had no track record,” he said.
Little is known about the NTJ, which previously has only been linked to
vandalising Buddhist statues.
Ethnic and religious violence has plagued Sri Lanka for decades, with a 37-
year conflict with Tamil rebels followed by an upswing in recent years in
clashes between the Buddhist majority and Muslims.
But it had not been seen by analysts as a potential crucible for Islamist
extremist terror. Yet IS has made inroads in Asia, notably in Afghanistan,
the Philippines and Indonesia.
BSS/AFP/RY/20:28 hrs