New research has shown that most “lone wolf” terrorists broadcast their plans to commit violence and tend to be older, less educated and more prone to mental illness than the extremist groups.
The research was released as a Sydney coroner’s court works to determine whether last year’s siege of the Lindt cafe by gunman Man Haron Monis could have been averted. Compared with terrorists involved in groups such as al-Qaida or the Irish Republican Army, researcher Ramón Spaaij of Australia’s Victoria University said lone wolves tended to be older, but that recently there had been an increase in attacks perpetrated by younger people. He said they generally had “higher rates of mental illness and higher rates of prior criminal history”.
The Sydney inquest has heard that in the days before Monis staged the siege he wrote on his website that he was pledging himself to the “caliph of the Muslims”, understood to mean the leader of Islamic State, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. Spaaij’s research outlined how lone wolves become radicalised, beginning with personal and political grievances, followed by the identification of an “enabler” – such as radical US preacher Anwar al-Awlaki or radio host Alex Jones – and then the broadcasting of some terrorist intent. More than 70% of post-9/11 attacks were preceded by the final stage, a “triggering event” that sets a lone wolf off……
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