Head of the UK military, General Sir Nick Carter, warned on Thursday during the annual speech at the RUSI Institute that the Daesh* terrorist group has not yet been completely defeated.
“Daesh, and the extremist ideas it represents, has absolutely not been defeated – indeed the threat from terrorism has proliferated – as was sadly demonstrated once again in last Friday’s attack at London Bridge,” the general declared.
Carter attributed a growing danger of terrorism and an ideology of violence to societal conditions that are not helping to reduce the growth of extremism.
He gave the example of sub-Saharan Africa, where rapid population growth, “poor governance, conflict, parlous economic growth, and climate change suggest that population displacement and migration will increase significantly from the relatively small numbers we have seen so far.”
Carter’s speech comes one week after another terrorist attack on London Bridge was carried out by a 28-year old knife-wielding Usman Khan, convicted in 2012 for terrorism and released in December 2018. Last week's attack resulted in the death of two, along with five injured. The attack was claimed by Daesh.
In October, US President Donald Trump announced the death of a Daesh leader, who once threatened many regions in the world. Earlier in April, Trump declared that “Isis has been 100 percent defeated”.
*Daesh (also known as ISIS/ISIL/IS) is a terrorist organisation banned in Russia