European trains like the ones targeted in the attack. AP.
An ISIS terror cell has been broken up in Europe with three arrests. Fox News/AP. The ringleader is a 42 year old Iraqi man who had unsuccessfully tried to attack two German trains last year. The ringleader had placed a metal cable between electrification masts and succeeded in damaging the driver's cab. He also had attempted to derail a train in the other attack but failed. Two other people were arrested for joining the ringleaders cell. Police found strong connections to ISIS with evidence including an ISIS flag and various documents supporting the group.
My Comment:
Sabotage is something new for ISIS. Usually they go for the high profile shootings or bombings and they have had some success with car ramming attacks as well. Those attacks have left a major trail of devastation across Europe.
The problem with those kinds of attacks is that they tend to cost money and risk detection. Obtaining weapons, explosives or even vehicles is expensive and can easily be detected by police or intelligence agencies. This is a major reason why many of these plots, especially the more complex ones, fail and fail miserably.
Sabotage is much easier. Any idiot can throw a metal cable across a train track or try and bend a rail. It doesn't take much effort and it is much cheaper than any of the other options. And if you pull it off there is a much easier chance of you escaping and doing it again.
Thankfully, it's apparently more difficult to derail or damage a train then it first appears. Both of these attacks failed and the news report is understandably sparse on details. Nobody wants the terrorists to realize that they can do these kinds of attacks.
That isn't to say that this wasn't a serious threat. Derailing a train could certainly damage the vehicle and could even kill people. Crowded European trains are even worse as they would have many possible victims. It's not the worst target I have seen for a terror attack and it could have killed quite a few people.
It's good that this cell was broken up. Even if the attackers have failed at doing much of anything it was still a serious threat. It's unclear how involved the other two members of the cell were but they could have pulled off their own attacks or tried to put together a more serious attack.
Finally, it's unclear if these men had any connection to ISIS other than being supporters. With ISIS losing all of their territory and being broke, they can't really support terror attacks. These attackers seemed broke to me so I doubt they were getting any help from ISIS. If so, they probably would have chosen a more typical style of attack than their sabotage scheme.
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