Hyderabad: The lone wolf attack in Australia's Sydney were a man stabbed six people to death at a busy shopping center Saturday has brought back memories of such cases which have taken place across the globe. The Sydney Police fatally shot the man. Multiple people, including a small child, were also injured in the attack.
The modern concept of lone-wolf terrorism was developed by rightwing extremists in the United States. In 1983, at a time when far-right organisations were coming under immense pressure from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), a white nationalist named Louis Beam published a manifesto that called for "leaderless resistance" to the US government.
Beam, who was a member of both the Ku Klux Klan and the Aryan Nations group, was not the first extremist to elaborate the strategy, but he is one of the best known. He told his followers that only a movement based on “very small or even one-man cells of resistance … could combat the most powerful government on earth”.
Who is a Lone wolf attacker: Lone wolf attacks, in which extremist individuals translate their beliefs into violent actions, are hard to detect and prevent. Lone-wolf terrorist attacks, as opposed to a group of individuals, are the most difficult to detect, predict and comprehend.
The start of Lone wolf attacks: Terrorist organisations had also embraced this tactic to spread violence in countries where coordinated big attacks are impossible. When the territories it controlled in Iraq and Syria started shrinking in the wake of counter-attacks, in 2015 and 2016 the Islamic State urged its supporters first to launch attacks in western cities and then declare allegiance to the 'Caliph'. Between October 2015 and August 2016 radicalised individuals, as well as 'wolf packs' carried out over 20 attacks in response to the Islamic State's call to indiscriminately kill "nonbeliever" civilians.
MAJOR LONE WOLF ATTACKS IN THE PAST
- In May 2014 in Belgium, four people were killed by a shooting at the Jewish Museum in Brussels by a former ISIL member
- In January 2015 at least nine Israelis were stabbed by an Arab man on a bus on Menachem Begin road, a major thoroughfare in south Tel Aviv
- On October 3, 2015, a series of knife stabbings around Israel occurred, including the Lions' Gate stabbings. This spate of attacks by lone-wolf Palestinians has sometimes been dubbed the "Knife Intifada." These occurred through the early months of 2016, then became sporadic.
- On 7 January 2016 in Paris, a man wearing a fake explosive belt attacked police officers
- In June 2016, a man kills a police commander and his partner outside their Paris home
- Deadly attack on Bastille Day: On July 14, Bastille Day, a lone actor drove a cargo truck into a crowd celebrating Bastille Day in Nice, killing 85 people
- On November 28, 2016, in the Ohio State University attack, a car ramming attack and mass stabbing occurred at Ohio State University (OSU)'s Watts Hall in Columbus, Ohio. The attacker, Somali refugee Abdul Razak Ali Artan, was shot and killed by the first responding OSU police officer, and 11 people were hospitalised for injuries
- On December 19, 2016, a Tunisian man drives a tractor trailer into a Christmas market in Berlin, killing 12 people. In the wake of the attack, authorities conduct a manhunt for Anis Amri, 24, throughout Europe. He is shot and killed by police in Milan, Italy, four days after the attack. Hours after Amri dies, ISIS releases a video of him pledging allegiance to the terrorist group
- On March 22, 2017, Khalid Masood drove a rented SUV across a crowded Westminster Bridge, leaving three dead and dozens wounded. Then he jumped out and attacked Const. Keith Palmer, an officer guarding Parliament, stabbing him to death before being shot to death by police
- On June 3, 2017, the London bridge attack took place: A van ran over multiple pedestrians on the London Bridge. The men then drove to Borough Market, where they stabbed multiple people before being shot by police. Eight people were killed and 48 were wounded in this attack
- On August 17, 2017, at least 14 people are killed and about 100 are injured after a van plows through a crowd of people in a popular tourist district in Barcelona, Spain. The suspected driver got away but is later killed by police. ISIS’ media wing, Amaq, issues a statement claiming responsibility, saying that the attackers are “soldiers of the Islamic State
- On October 31, 2017, eight people are killed and almost a dozen injured when Sayfullo Saipov drives down a busy bicycle path near the World Trade Center in New York City. Authorities find a note near the truck used in the incident, claiming the attack was made in the name of ISIS, a senior law enforcement official said
- On 29 November 2019, three people were killed and injured in a stabbing near Incident at the London Bridge A male suspect was shot and killed at the scene
- On October 20, 2020, three people died in a knife attack at a church in Nice, in what French President Emmanuel Macron said was an "Islamist terrorist attack". The suspect was a 21-year-old Tunisian national who had arrived in France earlier that month
- On September 3, 2021, eight people were injured in a mass stabbing at the LynnMall Countdown supermarket in New Lynn, Auckland, New Zealand. The attacker, Ahamed Samsudeen, was being followed by police officers, who intervened during the attack and shot and killed him after he charged the officers
- On 25 January 2023, a sexton was killed and four people, including a parish priest, were injured in a machete attack at two churches in Algeciras in the Spanish region of Andalusia. Police arrested Yassine Kanjaa, a 25-year-old Moroccan who had been living undocumented in Spain since 2019 and was under orders to leave. The attack was treated as Islamic terrorism by the Audiencia Naciona.
OTHER FACTS
- On March 29, 2024 ISIS has reportedly made a call for lone-wolf attacks in the U.S., Europe and Israel during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.
- In September 2014, ISIS spokesman Abu Mohammad al-Adnani called for lone wolf attacks using improvised weaponry, "If you are not able to find an IED or a bullet, then single out the disbelieving American, Frenchman or any of their allies. Smash his head with a rock or slaughter him with a knife or run him over with your car or throw him down from a high place or choke him or poison him.
