SHOCKING IMAGES OF BARBARIC TERROR ACROSS THE WORLD

The bodies keep piling up: From Kenya to Iraq, shocking images show how a wave of Islamist carnage has signalled a new era of barbaric terror across the world

Somali militants have shot dead at least 48 people after attacking two hotels and a police station in a small Kenyan coastal resort as locals were watching the World Cup. 

The attack in Mpeketoni, which is about 30-miles southwest of the tourist centre of Lamu, came at the end of a weekend of bloodshed that has exposed the world to the shocking depravity of terrorists who appear emboldened by each other's acts. 



The string of bloodthirsty atrocities, spanning two continents from Kenya to Iraq, has raised the fearful spectre of a new era of barbaric terror apparently sweeping the globe.

Afghanistan: Taliban insurgents sliced off the fingers of 11 people as punishment for voting in Afghanistan¿s democratic presidential election while 60 people were killed in a series of rocket barrages and scattered attacks

Grim prediction: The former president of Nigeria has said he does not believe all of the schoolgirls taken by Boko Haram, seen here in a video released by their kidnappers, will return home

Terror: Pictures posted online by ISIS show men purportedly moments before their executions, as they are herded into large trucks and driven to their deaths. They huddled and cowered in the overfilled vehicles, some covering their faces as they awaited their fate

Death toll rising: Authorities have blamed al-Shabab, Somalia's al-Qaida-linked terror group, for last night's atrocity in Kenya

A burnt out van in the town of Mpeketoni following an attack by Somali militant

Kenya: Residents look at slain bodies of people killed when unidentified gunmen attacked the coastal Kenyan town of Mpeketoni - the latest in a string of Islamic militant attacks across two continents that have shocked the world

Iraq: Images of Iraqi men being rounded up at gunpoint, beaten, herded into lorries and shot dead in a ditch in the desert by a row of masked ISIS fanatics sent shockwaves across the world

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Palestine: Israeli soldiers arrest Abdel Aziz Dweik (left) - speaker of the Palestinian parliament and a senior Hamas figure - at his home during a huge military operation to search for three missing Israeli teenagers

In the space of just three days:

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• Images of Iraqi men being rounded up at gunpoint, beaten, herded like cattle into lorries and shot dead in a ditch by a row of masked ISIS fanatics sent shockwaves across the world.
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• Taliban insurgents sliced off the fingers of 11 people as punishment for voting in Afghanistan’s democratic presidential election while 60 people were killed in a series of rocket barrages and scattered attacks
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• The desperate search continued for three Israeli teenagers allegedly kidnapped by Hamas militants as more than 
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• 150 suspects were arrested in relation to the abduction.
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• Nigeria's former president admitted that the 200 schoolgirls abducted by Boko Haram militants two months ago may never be found.
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• Pakistani jets killed 37 militants in retaliatory airstrikes today, a week after Taliban insurgents stormed Karachi airport and opened fire in a commando-style attack that left 38 people dead.

Over the past month, the world's media has been awash with gruesome images depicting insurgent barbarism whether in Iraq, Afghanistan, Kenya, Palestine or Syria.

The terror groups behind these acts appear to relish their growing publicity, increasingly courting online platforms such as Twitter and Facebook to promote their hate-filled agendas of murder and oppression.

Professor Lee Marsden, international terrorism expert and head of East Anglia University's School of Political, Social and International Studies, said: 'Images of brutality perpetrated by these terrorist groups are being circulated around the world on an unprecedented scale.

'While the levels of brutality seen here by ISIS and al-Shabaab are no different from what we have seen them do before, the way they are publicising their acts of terror is wholly new.

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Through the use of social media, like Twitter and Facebook, such groups are seeking to maximise coverage of their atrocities with great effect.

'Clearly an element of publicising such acts on the internet is to show other terror groups what these groups are capable of and the lengths to which they will go to promote their cause.

Certainly in Iraq, which is widely regarded as being a tool of the Americans - anything that shows they can defeat the Iraqi army is not just a defeat of Shia forces but also a victory over the West. And it makes for a very powerful recruiting tool.'

Political risk consultancy The Soufan Group added: 'The two Pakistan Taliban attacks on Karachi airport over the last few days, together with Boko Haram’s brazen kidnapping of another 20 women and several bloody attacks on rural communities in Northeastern Nigeria, are a reminder—if any is needed—of the threat posed by today’s terrorist groups. 

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But neither the Pakistan Taliban nor Boko Haram can compete with the challenges posed by the Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria (ISIS).

'ISIS has become indisputably the most effective and ruthless terrorist organization in the world. It now challenges the authority of two of the largest states in the Middle East, and has attracted significant numbers of fighters, not just from Iraq and Syria, but also from Saudi Arabia and other Arab states including Jordan.'

In Iraq, another town fell to ISIS militants this morning, solidifying their hold in the north of the country, as evidence of the jihadists' brutal reign intensified with shocking images of fighters massacring helpless prisoners.

Tal Afar, close to the Syrian border, was taken before dawn today a week after Mosul, Iraq's second city, fell to the jihadist fighters.

It came as pictures posted on a militant website appeared to show masked fighters forcing captives to lie down in a shallow ditch. Further images seem to show the bodies of the men soaked in blood after being shot.

Source: Daily Mail