PARIS, FRANCE – It is funny how often terrorists attack over the same ‘grievance’; it is equally funny how stupid most terrorists are.
There is this really interesting story about the bombing of the USS Cole in Aden harbour in December 2000 in which suicide terrorists exploded a small boat alongside the ship, ripping a 40-foot-wide hole near the waterline, killing 17 American sailors and injuring many more.
What most don’t know is that this attack came after a failed one almost a year earlier. Al Qaeda terrorists tried to bomb another US ship, the USS Sullivans, the previous January but overloaded their skiff with explosives, causing it to sink. The bad guys clearly learned their lessons, effecting a successful plot months afterwards. Like the little train engine, they told themselves they were capable of climbing that hill.
It may be surprising that some terrorists opt to attack the same target over the same grievance years apart. Today’s featured attack is a good example.
On this day in 2020
Two people were seriously wounded in a knife attack in central Paris near the former offices of the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo. You will recall that journal had been attacked in 2015 and twelve people were killed.
Except that Charlie Hebdo no longer occupies the building it once did. Hence, the perpetrator, still angry over the publication of ‘anti-Muhammad’ cartoons, was in completely the wrong place. A rocket scientist he clearly was not.
I looked out of the window and saw a woman who was lying on the ground and had taken a whack in the face from what was possibly a machete. I saw a second neighbor on the ground and I went to help.
Eyewitness
Charlie Hebdo promises to rerun similar cartoons in the future, which will invite more attacks. Let’s hope the terrorists get their bearings wrong again.
Read More Today in Terrorism
May 31, 1906: Spanish anarchist bombs royal wedding
On May 31, 1906 a Spanish anarchist threw a bomb hoping to hit King Alfonso XIII, killing 24 and wounding more than 100.
May 30, 2009: Anti-government group bombs TV station in Ecuador
On May 30, 2009 two pamphlet-bombs exploded outside an Ecuadorian TV station and ministry: no victims or significant damage ensued.
May 29, 2016: ISIS uses chlorine gas in terrorist attack
On May 29, 2016 35 civilians were wounded in an ISIS attack using rockets containing chlorine gas in Iraq’s Nineveh Province.
