Both symptoms and causes of terrorism require strong remedies

Police cadets display their skills during the passing out parade of 6th Batch Balochistan police training in southwest Pakistan's Quetta on Jan 6, 2016. About 100 police cadets completed their commando training on Wednesday to combat terrorism at Pakistan Police in Quetta. [Photo/Xinhua]

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.