Screen grab showing police respond to the bombing. Reuters.
A bomb has detonated in Hungary's capital of Budapest, injuring two people. Reuters. The two injured were police officers and was detonated near an abandoned storefront near a busy thoroughfare. The bombing occurred around 10:30 local time. Police haven't released a cause of the attack but photos of nails on the ground and eyewitness accounts suggest that it was a bombing. Hungary has been outspoken about rejecting immigration due to the European migrant crisis, and their prime minister, Viktor Orban has argued that these migrants pose a security threat.
My Comment:
The media is ignoring this situation. Part of it is due to the secrecy the Hungarian government is exercising in this case. Nobody has officially said this is a terror attack, no matter how obvious it is. I am not sure why they aren't admitting it. The only thing I can think of is that they are trying to throw off the bombers but even that makes little sense.
It's obvious to me that this is a bombing though. You don't get nails embedded into taxi cabs and thrown over the street from a gas explosion. And if it had been a gas explosion the police would have been able to figure it out by now.
It's also obvious because two cops were hurt in the blast. The article didn't say how badly they were injured, but my guess is that they were specifically targeted because they were cops. I am thinking that there was someone watching these two cops going by and then set the bomb off when they got close enough. I guess it is possible that two police officers could get hurt in a gas explosion that somehow threw nails everywhere, but I doubt it.
So who is responsible for this attack? Obviously ISIS is the prime suspect. Not only are they active throughout Europe, they also have told their followers to specifically target the police. They are reasonably skilled at making bombs and may want to target Hungary specifically because of the country's opposition to immigration. Immigration is a weapon for ISIS and Viktor Orban and Hungary are one of immigration's major foes in Europe.
It's also possible that this was a lone wolf attacker that was only inspired by ISIS. I think that is pretty likely. Why? This seemed like a pretty half-assed bombing. Only two injured? That tells me this was either a very small bomb or it was placed very poorly. I don't think a more experienced ISIS operative would have done such an underwhelming attack. A lone guy downloading bomb plans off the internet? Way more likely.
Either way, Hungary is an unlikely target for an attack. They don't have as many Muslims as other European countries. According to their latest census in 2011, they only have around 5000 total. The migrant crisis has undoubtedly brought that number up, but most migrants only used Hungary as a pit stop on their way to Germany or Sweden.
In short, there isn't a large population to draw terror recruits from. If this incident really is Islamic terrorism that does not bode well for Europe. If even a country like Hungary, which has very little immigration and a small Muslim population, what chance does Germany, Sweden, the UK, Belgium and France have with their massive waves of migrants and whole communities of disillusioned and radicalized Muslims? Not much, I would have to say...
There are other possibilities that I will include for the sake of completion. It's possible that this was a right wing attack, either as a "false flag" or just a run of the mill bombing. I find that extremely unlikely, if for no other reason, the right wing is already winning in Hungary. Why use a bombing like this when people in Hungary already voted for a leader that wants nothing to do with more Islamic immigration? If anything, people might change their mind if they found out it was a false flag or deliberate right wing attack. I don't think right wing extremists are that stupid.
Finally, there is always a chance that this has nothing to do with radical Islam at all. After all, there have been secular bombings that bomb for their own reasons. It could be some lone nutjob that just wants to kill cops for whatever reason. It might also be a left wing terrorist pissed off about Hungary's immigration policy, or just pissed off in general since communists are never happy with the status quo...
No matter what though, it is sad to think that Hungary is experiencing it's own attacks. This one won't be much more then a footnote in history, but that's little comfort for the people hurt in the attack. And the people in Budapest have to be on edge right now. Let's hope the cops catch this guy and get him off the streets... if they ever admit this was a bombing.
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