DHAKA: In the past week it was seen flowers and candles carpeting a street in Munich, the tranquility of a small Bavarian town shattered by a suicide bomb and a small church in suburban France sealed off after its octogenarian priest had his throat cut.

Before these horrific events, there was a knife-wielding teenager on a German train and before that, much deadlier attacks in Nice, Brussels and last November, in Paris.

This year has seen an accelerating pattern of attacks linked to Islamic State (IS) in Europe and beyond from Turkey to Bangladesh, the United States to Indonesia.

According to the group Intel Center, which tracks acts of terrorism, there has been a significant attack directed or inspired by IS every 84 hours since June 8 in cities outside the war zones in Iraq, Syria, Sinai in Egypt and Libya, reports CNN.

More than half of those attacks have been beyond big cities in places “not traditionally under threat of terrorist attacks”, said Intel Center.

This rash of random, low-tech but deadly attacks has fueled public unease in Europe and eroded faith in governments to tackle the threat of terrorism or discern who might turn to violence.

BDST: 1344 HRS, JUL 31, 2016
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