Medieval unreason must be defeated

The terrible events unfolding in France show how very dangerous extremism can be — even for extremists.

One French politician said yesterday that the two brothers — 32-year-old Cherif Kouachi and 34-year-old Said Kouachi — suspected of Wednesday’s Charlie Hebdo murders told negotiators they “want to die as martyrs”.

Such a blood- sacrifice ambition, one that has disastrously shaped out history too, made it very difficult to see how any other conclusions other than tragic ones could have been reached.

Paris is not the only city under attack by Islamic extremists. The militant Nigerian group Boko Haram attacked the northeastern town of Baga for the second time in a week, leaving bodies “littering the streets”.

Locals said the Islamist insurgents began shooting indiscriminately and burning buildings on Tuesday in raids on civilians that carried on into Wednesday.

More than 2,000 people are unaccounted for. Unicef has predicted that by the end of the year, the lives of over 8.6m children across Syria will have been torn apart by violence and forced displacement.

Across Europe security forces have warned of potential attacks and asked for enhanced powers to try to prevent them.

Though it is tempting to respond with decisive force against these dangerous zealots that option must be resisted.

It is time to celebrate the principles of liberalism and inclusion to defeat the medieval unreason so active in recent days.