Imagining the worst - Spreading terror

IT is an indication of the grip Islamic zealots have exerted on the popular imagination that the first reaction to the tragic shooting dead of nine people in the Czech Republic yesterday afternoon was to wonder if this latest outrage was another in a series of deadly attacks carried out by fundamentalists across the western world.

It is little comfort to the people of the south-eastern Czech town of Uherske Brod that such a reaction was off the mark but it may encourage the Islamic State militants who routinely use the most violent acts of terrorism — anything from beheading victims to crucifixion and enslavement — to try to advance their incomprehensible, medieval cause.

That terrible reality must inform the concern for the fate of the 90 Christians kidnapped in north-east Syria as the jihadis retreated in the face of a Kurdish counter-offensive. That concern is amplified by the fate — unconfirmed — of 21 Egyptian Copts in Libya who were supposedly beheaded by Islamic State militants. Indeed the violence is so everyday, so out-of-control that any speculation about the fate of the latest 90 Christians kidnapped may already be redundant. Suggestions too that jihadists are coming to Europe pretending to be refugees just adds fuel to the fire.