In 2015, two men armed with guns opened fire at the office of a satirical magazine, Charlie Hebdo. The magazine publishes content making satire of religion and politics, among other things. The magazine had previously published cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed in 2006. As a direct result, the magazine offices were hit with an explosive and destroyed.
Two brothers–Cherif and Said Kouachi– carried out the shooting at the Charlie Hebdo offices. They were filmed at one point during the attack firing on a policeman at point blank range. In total, 12 people were killed during the course of the attack. The two men were subsequently killed by police after they took a hostage inside of a building they were hiding in.
In November 2015, Paris was targeted by coordinated terrorist attacks. When all was said and done, 130 innocent people were killed in the deadliest day on French soil since WWII. The Stade de France stadium was the first location to be attacked. Oddly enough, with 79,000 soccer fans in attendance, this wasn’t the location with the most casualties. Three terrorists wearing suicide vests attempted to gain access to the stadium, where Germany and France were facing off in a soccer match.
One terrorist was stopped by security after his explosives were discovered during a pat down. He then blew himself up, wearing a vest containing shrapnel designed to inflict maximum injury and death. The other 2 also blew themselves up outside of the stadium after failing to gain access. Security was praised for their actions that effectively stopped a potentially large scale loss of life. Sadly, the terrorists did manage to kill one person outside of the stadium. ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack.
In June of 2017, a man walked into the Brussels Central Train Station ready for violence. A very powerful explosive was used, but failed to detonate. The suspect was a Moroccan national in his 30s. While his larger explosive failed, there was a partial explosion that sent many people into shock and running for their lives. Luckily, no one was injured in the small explosion.
The man was shot dead after he ran toward soldiers patrolling the station, shouting, “Allahu Akbar.” It’s very common for terrorists to use this phrase before detonating suicide vests or any other action that will cause their death. They believe they’re carrying out religious work and yelling out that allah is the greatest as their last words will earn them favor in the afterlife. Authorities raided the man’s house and found that he had ties to ISIS. They also believed that the man had constructed the explosives inside of his house.
