Both symptoms and causes of terrorism require strong remedies

A number of countries have fallen victim to terrorist attacks recently, pointing to the cruelty of extremists and the importance of maintaining high vigilance against terrorism worldwide.

On Jan 20, a terrorist attack on a university campus in northwest Pakistan killed at least 22 people and wounded dozens more. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack.

This is not the first time that schools in the South Asian country have been targeted by the Taliban. Just over a year ago, Pakistan experienced one of the deadliest school attacks in its history near Peshawar. More than 150 people were killed, mostly children.

Also on Jan 20, a Taliban suicide car bomber targeted a minibus in Kabul that was carrying journalists working for a private Afghan television channel, killing seven.

Prior to these, an attack on a hotel in Burkina Faso's capital Ouagadougou on Jan 15, carried out by al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb, left at least 29 people dead and 30 others injured.

The day before, explosions and gunfire rocked downtown Jakarta, the Indonesian capital, killing seven people and injuring 20 others. Indonesian police said the Islamic State terrorist group was responsible.

That so many countries have been targeted by terrorist groups within such a short period of time shows the rampancy of terrorism and extremism worldwide. The perpetrators may belong to different terrorist groups and be entrenched in different parts of the world, but they all employ similar methods to harm innocent people and produce as much fear and social panic as possible.

The global cancer of terrorism and extremism has not sprung up over night. It has its roots in countries and regions which have long been mired in economic stagnation, domestic social unrest and acute sectarian rifts or ethnic tensions.

In such places, social backwardness and lasting poverty have resulted in a lack of education and high unemployment among young people who are thus easily influenced by extremist ideology.

The ineffectiveness of efforts to curb major extremist groups such as the Islamic State, al-Qaida and the Taliban has also inflated the arrogance of terrorists.

Since the rise of the IS terrorist group in the Middle East in 2014, the world has witnessed a rising number of terrorist attacks elsewhere as it has exported its extremism and terrorism to other countries and regions. This in turn has highlighted the pressing need to rally greater political will around the global fight against terror and for more effective international cooperation.

Both the symptoms and the root causes of terrorism need to be addressed. No single remedy and no country alone can eradicate the soil in which extremism and terrorism grows.

It is necessary for countries to plug the loopholes in their national security and share intelligence with each other so as to curb the infiltration of extremists and terrorists.

It is crucial the international community jointly raise anti-terror awareness among the public and make concerted efforts to address social injustices, such as racial discrimination, income gaps and poverty, so as to eliminate the soil for homegrown terrorism.

Admittedly, the global campaign to contain terror through the use of force may only help address the symptoms of terrorism. Not to mention that the three major camps led by the United States, Russia and Saudi Arabia respectively are fighting isolated battles out of self-centered calculations.

Obviously, better coordination and a united front are needed so that the military operations against the IS group, in particular, can yield significant results soon.

But efforts also need to be made to revitalize the economies of conflict-ridden countries that have become hot-beds for extremism. The rest of the world should help these countries find a successful development model so that they can play their part in the war against terror.

The author is a senior writer with China Daily.

wanghui@chinadaily.com.cn