We know that ISIS have singled out New York as a potential target, but just how worried should we be here at home?

In light of the attack in Mali on Friday our State Security Department has spoken about the level of risk in South Africa. The general gist seems to be that no one is safe but we need not panic, with this below from EWN:

The department says that while there is no imminent threat to South Africa from extremist groups, it remains vigilant, monitoring any possible problem that could threaten security.

Spokesperson Brian Dube says African countries continue to share intelligence.

“We are dealing with a global phenomenon here and all of us on the continent in particular must continue to work together to ensure that we share intelligence and information and bring a stop to extremist attacks.”

It was a somewhat less optimistic approach from Institute for Security Studies counter-terrorism expert Anton du Plessis, speaking yesterday to the Sunday Times:

“What we’ve seen in the last two weeks is a serious game-changer in terms of where global terrorist groups are trying to position themselves. It’s clear from attacks taking place around the world that terrorist groups are trying to attract headlines and keep their recruitment strategies alive.

“If IS- and al-Qaeda-affiliated groups in Africa have changed strategy, then South Africa does face a threat. South Africa’s government is not considered a high target for terrorist groups, but we have probably the highest concentration of what would be considered soft targets that would generate the highest level of publicity and fear within Western targets on the continent”…

“But as we saw in Paris, you don’t need a highly organised, big group of guys with explosives. You just need three or four people with AK47s, which are freely available in this part of the world, to pull off an attack right under the nose of intelligence.

“I don’t think we can be complacent…”

It’s worth remembering that Boko Haram are, according to their death toll of 6664 in 2014 alone, the world’s deadliest terrorist group. The militant group have traditionally targeted Nigeria and surrounding countries, although at least one person thinks Africa as a whole is something of a sitting duck:

…a US security expert said African nations would remain vulnerable to militant attacks and it would be difficult for them to prevent similar violence in future.

“The ability to conduct attacks on soft targets is going to continue to be a challenge,” General David Rodriguez, the head of US Africa Command, told reporters in Washington.

No one likes to be called a soft target, so I guess we can only hope that those up top are taking the necessary steps to help prevent a similar tragedy here at home.

[sources:ewn&timeslive]