Sri Lanka attacks highlight counter-terrorism challenges

On April 22, one month after the devastating Christchurch mosque shootings, eight coordinated terrorist attacks took place in quick succession in another island nation, Sri Lanka. The event has quickly grabbed world attention as it witnessed the death of at least 290 people so far. The attacks, once again, highlighted the grave challenge terrorism poses to humanity.

So far no group has claimed responsibility for the Sunday attacks. However, the facts that they happened on Easter Sunday and three explosions blasted in Catholic churches suggest that they were likely to be targeting the country's Christian population.

BBC reported that two weeks before the incident the government received warnings of a potential terrorist attack by a local Islamist group called the Nations Thawahid Jaman (NTJ).

According to Long Xingchun, professor at the School of Foreign Languages, China West Normal University, Muslims and Christians, both minorities in the country, are not typically known for locking horns with each other (as the ethnic tensions are mostly between the majority Sinhala Buddhists and other minorities). Thus, if these attacks were carried out by local Islamists against Christians, they may have been facilitated by foreign Islamist organization like ISIL, he said.

As the investigation is ongoing, no one can yet jump to a conclusion. Nevertheless, once the attackers are identified, measures need to be taken accordingly to prevent such an event from happening again.

If it is established that international linkage is present in this case, the Sri Lankan government needs to make a concerted effort with the international community to combat the spread of terrorism.

In 2015 and 2016, Europe was mired in a series of attacks associated with ISIL. Some of the attacks were carried out by the organization's fighters who traveled to European countries.

For this reason, the EU has since enhanced coordination on their counter-terrorism strategy. Specifically, member states are required to share information about travelers and to join a database.

Partly due to the demise of ISIL, and partly as a result of the coordinated counter-terrorism efforts, Foreign Affairs observed that in 2018, such terror attacks "have become relatively rare."

This example highlights the need for international cooperation in today's global counter-terrorism efforts. At the same time, with the convenience of social media and its ability to disseminate information at lightning speed, its role in terrorist attacks has also been brought to public attention in recent years.

Following the Sri Lanka attacks, a social media blackout was ordered by the Sri Lankan government to make sure no disinformation regarding the blasts and the investigation is circulating.

During last month's New Zealand attack, the same issue with social media emerged as well, as the shooting was livestreamed on Facebook for the initial 17 minutes and according to media reports, "The footage was successfully re-uploaded to Facebook 300,000 times in the first 24 hours after the attack."

This calls attention to the dilemma many countries are caught in amid their counter-terrorism efforts: The use of social media has had the unintended consequence of facilitating the spread of hateful messages that could well trigger tensions between different social and ethnic groups and incite violence.

In the fight against ISIL, the Internet is also identified as an essential tool for terrorists through which they can recruit new members, spread extremist messages and coordinate terrorist action. It is recognized that the New Zealand attacker has been inspired by the Norwegian mass murderer Anders Behring Breivik through social media.

Thus, apart from addressing what triggered terrorism, governments around the world should take the initiative to strengthen online regulations to prevent the weaponization of social media to facilitate terrorist attacks. For example, in the wake of the Christchurch mosque attack in New Zealand, the Australian government passed a more stringent law limiting the type of content that can be shared on social media.

All in all, terrorism has its roots in human history that goes as far back as the first century. As we come to the 21st century, novel situations have emerged where human beings are facing new conditions conducive to the spread of terror. With this in mind, we need to tackle the issue with a more coordinated global strategy as well as new tools we can harness.

(CGTN)