Difficult days

摘要

This year's FIRE Congress on terrorism comes at an important moment. With so-called Islamic State (IS) losing ground in Iraq and Syria and Al Qaeda desperate to break out from under the shadow of its erstwhile junior partner, the potential for a significant increase in terrorism has rarely looked bleaker. With attacks in Paris, London, Stockholm and St Petersburg already this year atop the New Year's Eve attack in Istanbul, the range of attack vectors used by terrorists has clearly changed. The shift from suicide bombers to a wider 'martini terrorism' using anything that comes to hand is significant. Especially when a truck has a bomb inside the driver's cab, something that happened in Stockholm. Slowly, but surely, the tactics being used are evolving.