By Jamie Holland-
More needs to be done to effectively combat terrorism after the failed attempted attack in Manhattan, New York on Monday morning.
The war on terror continues after Akayed Ullah was found wounded following a blast at the Port Authority Bus Terminal in Manhattan, New York earlier this morning. Attached to his person was a “low-tech explosive device” according to officials and on his torso were cuts and tears amongst ripped clothing. This potentially devastating attack luckily left only four people with wounds that are not considered serious.
New York City Bomber From Bangladesh Fails In Allahu Akbar Terrorist Attempt https://t.co/bLpniDziEO pic.twitter.com/bvgwXQxWz8
— Roosh V Forum (@rooshvforum) December 11, 2017
The panic, however, was real. After Ullah, a Bangladeshi immigrant aged 27, supposedly let off the blast in an underpass in the terminal, causing many to run in fear for their lives; “A woman fell. And nobody even went to stop and help her because the panic was so scary,” says eyewitness Alicja Wlodkowski to Reuters news agency.
Speaking to the New York Times, 62 year-old Andre Rodriguez explains, “I was going through the turnstile. It sounded like an explosion, and everybody started running.” Shortly after, subway stations close-by were evacuated, and the Port Authority Bus Terminal, the busy terminal serving over 65 million every year, was shut in the interim.
“We have the Statue of Liberty in our harbour and that makes us an international target,” says New York Governor Andrew Cuomo. “This is New York. The reality is that we are a target by many who would like to make a statement against democracy, against freedom”.
Mayor Bill de Blasio stated following the incident that “Terrorists won’t win”. After photos of the injured Ullah begin to do the rounds on the internet and social media, we have to ask ourselves whether we are really doing enough in the fight to end terrorism. 2016 and 2017 are arguably two of the most catastrophic years the world has seen be subject to the wrath of terrorism, and with attacks seeming to become more and more frequent something needs to be done in these, what Cuomo coins, ‘international target[s]’ to predict and prevent them from happening in the future and stop citizens from being afraid to venture out into their capital city – wherever this may be.
Perhaps more time and money needs to be invested in thoroughly examining and halting terrorist groups from operating on the web. It has been noted that groups are communicating with and gaining followers on popular sites such as Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. With this content on the clear web failing to be detected on many occassions, this says a lot about the potentially catastrophic webpages, forums and databases lying beneath detection on the dark web. The regularity of attacks popping up all over the world, raise questions as to whether a new breed of terrorists are being recruited via these means. If we do more to clamp down on these means, could this have been prevented