ISIS Attacks Around the World Today
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- There was no indication that the series of attacks by the Islamic State on Friday was coordinated. Here’s what we know so far:
- ▪ On Tuesday, an Islamic State spokesman had called on the group’s followers to escalate attacks during Ramadan and to turn the month into a time of “calamity for the infidels.”
- ▪ At least one assailant at an American-owned chemical plant near Lyon, France, decapitated one person and tried to blow up the factory.
- ▪ Two gunmen opened fire on a beach in Tunisia, killing at least 27 people. Security forces killed one of the attackers; the other fled.
- ▪ Islamic State claimed responsibility on Twitter for a suicide bombing at a Shiite mosque in the Kuwaiti capital after Friday prayers that killed at least eight.
- ▪ At least 100 civilians have died in two days of fighting between Kurdish forces and Islamic State militants in Kobani, Syria, where the Kurds fought back the terrorist group six months ago
BEIRUT, Lebanon — Terrorists attacked sites in France, Tunisia and Kuwait on Friday, leaving a bloody toll on three continents and prompting new concerns about the spreading influence of jihadists.
In France, attackers stormed an American-owned industrial chemical plant near Lyon, decapitated one person and tried unsuccessfully to blow up the factory, in what French authorities said was a terrorist attack.
In Tunisia, gunmen opened fire at a beach resort, killing at least 27 people, officials said. At least one of the attackers was killed by security forces.
And the Islamic State claimed responsibility for an explosion at a Shiite mosque in Kuwait City. Local news reports said at least eight people had been wounded.
There was no immediate indication that the attacks were coordinated. But the three strikes came at roughly the same time, and just days after the Islamic State, the militant group also known as ISIS or ISIL, called for such operations during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
“It appears to be an effort to launch and inspire a wave of attacks across three continents, reminiscent of Al Qaeda’s simultaneous multiple attacks of the past,” said Bruce O Riedel, a former C.I.A. officer who is a counterterrorism expert at the Brookings Institution in Washington.
“The Kuwait operation is especially dangerous, as this is ISIS’ first operation in a gulf state,” Mr. Riedel said in an email. “The others will be deeply alarmed.”
While investigations continued in each of the countries, the quick succession of the attacks raised the possibility that the Islamic State, which has seized control of territory in Iraq and Syria, has successfully inspired sympathizers to plan and carry out attacks in their own countries.
“Muslims, embark and hasten toward jihad,” said the Islamic State’s spokesman, Abu Mohammed al-Adnani, in an audio message released this week. “O mujahedeen everywhere, rush and go to make Ramadan a month of disasters for the infidels.”
United States intelligence and counterterrorism officials were scrambling on Friday to assess the connections, if any, between the attacks in France, Kuwait and Tunisia. Officials said that if the assessment found that the attacks were linked, officials would seek to determine whether the Islamic State had actively directed, coordinated or inspired them. (By Ben Hubbard. Eric Schmitt contributed reporting.)
Link: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/27/world/middleeast/terror-attacks-france-tunisia-kuwait.html?module=Notification&version=BreakingNews®ion=FixedTop&action=Click&contentCollection=BreakingNews&contentID=36465684&pgtype=article
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