Violence unabated, yet nothing gained

The world has once again been shaken by another deadly terrorist attack on innocent people. This time the target was Brussels, where at least 31 people were killed and 230 others injured on Tuesday.

The suspected suicide bombers struck the Belgian capital’s Zaventem Airport as well as a metro station about 200 metres from European Commission headquarters. The Islamic State (IS) later claimed responsibility. 

It is widely seen as “an attack on all of Europe”, since Brussels is home to key institutions of the European Union, including its parliament, the EC and the Council of Ministers.

The blasts came just four days after Belgian-born French national Salah Abdeslam, suspected of arranging November’s terrorist attacks in Paris, was captured in Brussels. The speculation is that Tuesday’s assault was in retaliation for his arrest. However, after his arrest last Friday Abdeslam told investigators he had been planning a fresh attack in the Belgian capital, suggesting that, rather than an act of retaliation, Tuesday’s twin blasts were already at the planning stage, part of a demonstration of the continuing jihadist threat in Europe.

It seems as though terrorists can carry out these attacks at will and that no place on the planet is safe from those who target innocent people to spread their political messages.

Security authorities might be partly to blame for failing to discover any warning signs about this latest attack. But it is not easy in such cases to dig out intelligence from a closely-knit network of local terrorists or insurgents. The authorities might need to correct any flaws in their intelligence-gathering in order to be better prepared for future attacks, but certainly that goal is not easily achieved.

In recent decades almost all such incidents in Europe have involved local people attacking local targets using materials and weapons readily available, which could also be the case in the latest outrage.

Blame has been directed at the radicalisation of a fringe of youths and the alienation of young Muslims in European countries. Thailand is facing a similar problem in the deep South, in the form of regular insurgent attacks that have claimed the lives of more than 5,000 people in the past decade.

Thanks to twisted logic transferred by their leaders, these young operatives seem to believe it is no sin to kill people. Outsiders can only wonder whether they really are convinced that Allah would give his blessing to the killing of innocent people for any such cause.

Our governments repeatedly condemn such insensible acts of violence and express condolences to the affected country over the loss of life. We offer moral support to the victims and their families. And we hope that the culprits will be arrested and prosecuted.

And yet, for many terrorists and their fellow radicals, legal action against them will only lead to more acts of revenge. In their eyes, unarmed civilians are easy targets and attacks on innocent people generate widespread fear and thus have a greater impact.

Little can be done to prevent more terrorist attacks in the future as long as the twisted logic of their leaders can still influence young operatives. All that the countries of the world can do is to stand together against the campaign of senseless violence, in the hope that the terrorists will finally realise they will never defeat the rest of the world.