An Era of Terror Exacerbated by a Competition Between Extremists

Terror attacks on two hotels and a cafe in the Sahel overnight killed some 23 western visitors from 18 different countries and held many people hostage before French troops and local Burkina Faso security, freed 150 captives and killed four attackers.

This most recent terror event in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso's capital, was conducted by Al-Qaeda militants. Last November, a similar attack upon a tourist hotel in Mali killed 19, that too was claimed by Al-Qaeda terrorists.

Earlier this week, Islamic State(IS) terrorists claimed an attack upon foreigners in Jakarta, Indonesia and earlier, westerners were killed in another terrorist attack in popular Istanbul, Turkey, said to have been conducted by the IS. Malaysian authorities have prevented a similar attack in their country. Somali militants continue to pester Kenya and Tanzania and Boko Horam continues a violent campaign upon Nigeria, Chad and Cameroon. The violent incidents of Paris, France, are yet fresh as Belgium continues to round up extremists who pose threats to Europe. From Egypt's Sinai, to Yemen, to Libya and elsewhere, terror alerts are heightened.

There appears to be a violent competition brewing for the title of most atrocious terror group between the Islamic State and Al-Qaeda. This absurd reach for infamy is witnessing Al-Qaeda spread in Africa and the IS spread from the Levant to Southeast Asia.

The pattern of this spread with deliberate attacks upon places where westerners frequent, indicate that western nations are making progress in securing their homelands from terrorists. However, much work remains to be done in the war on terror as violent extremists continue to wreck havoc upon the security of soft targets across the globe.