Terror Attack in the US

New Year has begun on a sad note. In a dastardly terrorist attack 15 people were killed and nearly 35 injured in New Orleans in the United States (US) by a man who was driving a pickup truck at high speed and rammed into a crowd of New Year revellers. Initially the man fled after exchanging fire with the police and was reported to be dead. He tried to run over as many people as he could. His one point agenda was to indulge in wholesale carnage. This terror incident on the New Year has caused international concern. The person who indulged in this act of terror has been identified as 42 year old Shamsudin Jabbar from Texas. He was an Army veteran. As per the FBI the suspect has been killed in the fire fight with the officers and was in possession of an ISIS flag in the rented vehicle at the time of the attack. As per the agencies the suspect made a series of video recordings before Wednesday’s attack. The attack in the popular French Quarter happened less than a mile from where the Sugar Bowl was to be hosted. The annual college football game was postponed for 24 hours for the sake of public safety reasons. This terror incident has been condemned globally. Prime Minister Narendra Modi while condemning this act of cowardice has said in his post on the social media site X that “We strongly condemn the cowardly terrorist attack in New Orleans. Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their families. May they find strength and solace as they heal from this tragedy.” US President Joe Bidden has termed this terror attack as despicable. He has also said that the authorities are investigating the possible connections between this incident and the subsequent explosion of a Tesla Cybertruck near a Donald Trump hotel in Las Vegas. The FBI has also said that they don’t believe that it was an act of just an individual. One thing is clear that the US will have a new President in place this month and Donald Trump will take over the reins of power. Keeping in view his hard-line stance on the global terrorism and radicalism that is posing a severe threat to humanity, New Orleans terror attacks can be seen as a reaction to that as well. It seems that the new US regime will have to devise policy formulations that will pre-empt and sinister designs of the global terror cartels. The twin tower attacks on 11th September in 2001 at the World Trade Centre (WTC) orchestrated by Al Qaeda turned out to be the game changer in the modern world when it comes to combating global terror. Though India has been the frontline victim of the terrorism for quite a long time. Twin Tower attacks changed the global scenarios as far as the war against terrorism is concerned. It enabled the world leaders to internalise the human cost imposed by the terrorists who are indoctrinated to the worst possible extent in spite of being highly educated and being the well trained professionals in different fields. Widespread condemnation of the New Orleans terror attack has once again brought global focus on the US. Surely, this attack will draw new battle lines and keeping in view the focus of the incoming President Donald Trump there will be proactive posturing of the US towards the global terror cartels. Only time will tell what policy will be adopted by the US to send a strong message to the merchants of terror.