Sunday, August 20, 2017

Inside Story - Why Does Europe Continue to Be a Terrorist Target?


In a couple of attacks to hit Spain this week, at least 14 people were killed when a speeding van ploughed through pedestrians on the famous Rambla boulevard in Barcelona on Thursday.

A woman died of her injuries following a similar attack in a car in the seaside resort of Cambrils nearby. Five men were shot dead by police. That followed an explosion at a house in the town of Alcanar, 200km south of Barcelona, where bomb makers are thought to have lived.

Authorities said the attacks in Barcelona and Cambrils were related and the work of a large cell that had been plotting for a long time from Alcanar.

Four arrests have been made, while seven other members of the suspected cell are confirmed dead.

The attacks in Spain are the latest in cities all over Europe. Most were claimed by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS), which is being driven from strongholds in the Middle East. So how potent a force are ISIL fighters in Europe? | Presenter: Hashem Ahelbarra | Guests: Yasser Louati - Human rights activist; Milo Comeford - Tony Blair Institute for Global Change; Greg Barton - Professor of Global Islamic Politics, Deakin University.