The United States has issued a global travel warning after recent terror attacks in France, Australia and Canada. (French End Two Sieges, Killing Massacre Suspects and An Ally)
The alert comes hours after French police killed three hostage-takers in a pair of incidents. Two of the men are believed responsible for Wednesday’s attack on a satirical magazine in Paris. Twelve people were killed in that assault, France’s deadliest terror incident in decades.
The State Department’s warning says attacks against Americans are becoming increasingly prevalent. It also cites an increased risk of reprisals against U.S. and Western targets for the U.S.-led intervention against Islamic State militants in Syria and Iraq.
The warning also cited last month’s hostage standoff at a Sydney cafe and the October killing of a soldier near Canada’s parliament.
This week’s deadly attacks in France by Islamist gunmen showed the limits of spy and anti-terrorist agencies, which often have information about perpetrators in advance but are only able to assemble all the clues after the bloodletting has taken place.
From the Sept. 11 attacks in the United States in 2001 through a series of outrages in Europe and other parts of the world, U.S. and European security and intelligence officials say a key problem has been making connections from a mass of data.
