MEASURING AND UNDERSTANDING THE IMPACT OF TERRORISM

COUNTRY: AUSTRALIA
Date 15 November 2014
Fatalities
Injuries
Organisation
Attack details
Individual
An assailant took 18 people hostage in
the Lindt Chocolate cafe in Sydney.
After 16 hours, police stormed the
cafe. The assailant and two hostages
were killed and four other hostages
were wounded in the attack and siege.
COUNTRY: CANADA
Date 22 October 2014
Fatalities
Injuries
Organisation
Attack details
Individual
An assailant attacked a ceremonial
guard at the National War Memorial
and proceeded to enter the Parliament
building on Parliament Hill in Ottawa.
The threat of terrorism to the West has been viewed as primarily
coming from terrorist groups based in Afghanistan or Iraq and
other Middle East and North African countries. Historically the
threat was seen to be from al-Qa’ida and its affiliates. However,
in recent times ISIL has overtaken al-Qa’ida as the largest
perceived threat. Prior to the call for attacks in the West by the
spokesperson of ISIL on 22 September 2014, there had been no
sympathiser attacks in the West motivated by ISIL. However, in
the ten months following the call, 21 plots which killed 15 people
took place. 12 This suggests that attacks in the West have been
influenced by the call by ISIL in September.
Surveys of law enforcement agencies in the United States
show that jihadists have been replaced by anti-government
groups as the biggest perceived threat. Instead, the antigovernment
group Sovereign Citizens is viewed as the biggest
threat. A series of surveys conducted by researchers affiliated
with START in 2014 showed that 39 per cent of law
enforcement respondents thought that Islamic extremists
were a serious threat. In contrast 52 per cent of respondents
thought that Sovereign Citizens were a serious threat. The
study consisted of surveying 4,500 officers from 2,100
agencies in the United States and was conducted in 2006 and
2014. The study was conducted only with law enforcement
officers that had undertaken training related to terrorism
prevention as most officers had little experience with working
with the intelligence process. 13
Sovereign Citizens are an anti-government group which are
mainly linked through the internet and seminars. The group
believes that the government and all workers of the
government have an illegitimate claim to authority.
COUNTRY: CANADA
Date 20 October 2014
Fatalities
Injuries
Organisation
Attack details
Individual
An assailant in a vehicle struck two
Canadian Armed Forces soldiers
injuring one and killing the other in
Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Quebec.
The assailant was killed after
approaching police with a knife.
GLOBAL TERRORISM INDEX 2015 | Terrorism in Western Countries
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