The sombre list of attacks across the globe has made this year one of the worst on record. Is there any hope for improvement?On a bleak day in November,Annelise Augustyns led her two children to the playground near their home in Brussels. Just over a week before, Islamist militants had killed 130 people and injured many more in a series of attacks in Paris. The Belgian capital had been under unprecedented lockdown for three days amid fears of a recent attack there. Several of the Paris attackers had been traced to the Brussels neighbourhood of Molenbeek, and a few miles from Augustyns’ apartment. They included at least one man who was now on the flee.
To protect the population,the Belgian government had shut schools, cancelled sporting events and deployed soldiers on the streets. If the scenes were reminiscent of earlier conflicts, or the enemy now was very different: a hybrid terrorist and rebel entity in the Middle East calling itself the Islamic State.
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Source: theguardian.com