Frag Out! Magazine
Issue link: https://fragout.uberflip.com/i/1115818
also found in materials published before 2001 along with its explanation – a big hierarchical organization with many dif- ferent roles assigned to its particular el- ements and members is prone to surveil- lance, infiltration, and becoming broken up by security services. Cases of recorded attacks seem to prove these concepts to be true. From among the jihadist attacks that have taken place in Europe in the last five years, only few (i.e. Paris 2015 and Brussels 2016) were launched by persons considered "returning fighters", meaning people who made their way from Europe to areas un- der control of the so-called Islamic State to undergo training there and take part in armed operations. Supporters of far- right and far-left ideologies – especially of the so-called eco-terrorism current – have carried out similar attacks. On the other hand, many attacks that have occurred in France, Great Britain, and other European countries show an- other common feature. After an attack, it has often turned out that the perpe- trator – or perpetrators – had a criminal record because of their extremist views, attempts to leave for the Middle East, and other similar alarming acts. Was it intentional negligence? Of course not. It's just when there are many units and persons acting independent of each oth- er instead of a single center to manage terrorists' actions, the number of signals of potential threat will only grow. And every police force has limited resources at its disposal, using them only to coun- teract those threats that appear to be most significant at a given time. To summarize the above part of the ar- ticle: considering the numbers of perpe- trators of attacks and the traits they have in common, nowadays, attacks car- ried out by one or two persons are more frequent than those launched by three or four persons. An attack mounted by more than five terrorists should be con- sidered a worst-case scenario. So, if attacks which are merely inspired – not plotted by – a terrorist organization are to have any effect, they need to be easy to plan and carry out also by per- sons with limited technical knowledge, in average physical shape, and moderately skilled in using firearms. In terms of the recommended means of combat, both "Inspire" and ISIS publications speak of three essential ones. The first of them is improvised explosive devices. It is suggested that they be con- structed using commonly available every- day use objects such as gas cylinders, matches (speaking more precisely, a mass of match heads mixed with sugar), fireworks (as a source of gunpowder) or Christmas tree lights (as fuses), pipes, pressure cookers or empty containers as bodies. Another suggestion is to make bombs contain a lot of shrapnel – includ- ing nails, screws, or bearing balls – to kill as many people as possible. There's also a manual on how to assemble a home- made, primitive hand grenade. On the other hand, the handbooks include also instructions on how to put together ex- plosive devices to be mounted in a car, using gas cylinders (at least six) sur- www.fragoutmag.com