IS no longer capable of complex attacks, says terrorism expert

London: The Islamic State terror militia is no longer capable of carrying out complex attacks, London-based German terrorism researcher Peter Neumann said in remarks published Thursday in the daily Augsburger Allgemeine Zeitung newspaper. IS can no longer carry out long-planned, complex actions, such as in Paris in 2015, Neumann, a professor for security studies at King’s College London told the paper. Terrorists struck at the same time in five different locations in the French capital in November 2015, incuding the Bataclan theatre and the Stade de France stadium. A total of 130 people were killed at that time. Neumann sees the loss of control over parts of Iraq and Syria as one of the reasons behind the weakening of the IS terrorist militia. The caliphate no longer exists, said Neumann. Without this attraction, it would be much more difficult for IS to recruit new fighters, he added. The threat posed by Islamist extremists is thus significantly lower than it was six years ago, Neumann explained. (dpa)