And what have the Islamist terrorists been up to so far this century?
I attach a small sample of well known attacks on western civilians going about their daily work or enjoying their holidays:
2002 Bali bombings.
The 2002 Bali bombings occurred on 12 October 2002 in the tourist district of
Kuta on the
Indonesian island of
Bali. The attack killed 202 people (including 88 Australians, 38 Indonesians, and people of more than 20 other nationalities). A further 209 people were injured.
Various members of
Jemaah Islamiyah, a violent
Islamist group, were convicted in relation to the bombings, including three individuals who were
sentenced to death. The attack involved the detonation of three bombs: a
backpack-mounted device carried by a
suicide bomber; a large
car bomb, both of which were detonated in or near popular nightclubs in Kuta; and a third much smaller device detonated outside the United States consulate in
Denpasar, causing only minor damage. An audio-cassette purportedly carrying a recorded voice message from
Osama bin Laden stated that the Bali bombings were in direct retaliation for support of the United States'
War on Terror and Australia's role in the liberation.
Manchester Arena bombing, May 2017
Twenty-three people died, including the attacker, and 139 were wounded, more than half of them children. Several hundred more suffered
psychological trauma. The bomber was Salman Ramadan Abedi, a 22-year-old local man of Libyan ancestry. After initial suspicions of a terrorist network, police later said they believed Abedi had largely acted alone but that others had been aware of his plans.
2005 London bombings.
The 7 July 2005 London bombings, often referred to as 7/7, were a series of coordinated terrorist
suicide attacks in
London, United Kingdom, which targeted commuters travelling on
the city's public transport system during the morning rush hour.
Four radical
Islamic terrorists separately detonated three homemade bombs in quick succession aboard
London Underground trains across the city and, later, a fourth on a double-decker bus in
Tavistock Square. The train bombings occurred on the
Circle line near
Aldgate and at
Edgware Road, and on the
Piccadilly line near
Russell Square.
Fifty-two people of 18 different nationalities, all of whom were UK residents, were killed, and more than 700 were injured in the attacks, making it Britain's deadliest terrorist incident since the 1988 bombing of
Pan Am Flight 103 near
Lockerbie, Scotland, and England's deadliest since the 1974
Birmingham pub bombings, as well as the country's first Islamist suicide attack.
2016 Nice truck attack
On the evening of 14 July 2016, a 19-tonne cargo truck was deliberately driven into crowds of people celebrating Bastille Day on the Promenade des Anglais in Nice, France, resulting in the deaths of 86 people and the injury of 458 others. The driver was Mohamed Lahouaiej-Bouhlel, a Tunisian resident of France.
November 2015 Paris attacks.
The November 2015 Paris attacks were a series of coordinated
terrorist attacks that took place on 13 November 2015 in Paris, France and the city's northern suburb,
Saint-Denis. Beginning at 21:16
CET, three
suicide bombers struck outside the
Stade de France in Saint-Denis, during a football match. This was followed by several mass shootings and a suicide bombing, at cafés and restaurants. Gunmen carried out another mass shooting and took hostages at an
Eagles of Death Metal concert in the
Bataclan theatre, leading to a stand-off with police. The attackers were shot or blew themselves up when police raided the theatre.
The attackers killed 130 people, including 90 at the Bataclan theatre.Another 413 people were injured, almost 100 seriously. Seven of the attackers also died while the authorities continued to search for accomplices.The attacks were the deadliest in France since the
Second World War, and the second deadliest in the
European Union since the
Madrid train bombings in 2004. France had been on
high alert since
the January 2015 attacks on
Charlie Hebdo offices and a Jewish supermarket in Paris that killed 17 people and wounded 22, including civilians and police officers.
Just trying to put things into perspective.
Lest we forget.