Terror Takes No Holiday Islamic State has officials on New Year’s alert around the world.

Posted By on December 31st, 2015

http://www.wsj.com/articles/terror-takes-no-holiday-1451520421

Millions of people around the world are gathering in public places Thursday to celebrate the New Year, which means there’s no holiday for counterterrorist officials, who are on high alert seemingly everywhere.

Turkish police said Wednesday they arrested two people with alleged Islamic State ties on suspicion of planning bombing attacks on New Year’s Eve in Ankara. The pair, who police said had a vest with explosives and a backpack “ready for use,” were arrested while scouting targets in the Kizilay district known for its shopping centers. In October two bomb attacks outside Ankara’s main train station killed more than 100 innocents. No one has claimed responsibility but Turkish officials have blamed Islamic State.

Meanwhile, Belgian authorities cancelled a New Year’s Eve fireworks display scheduled for the historic Grand Place in downtown Brussels. This followed the arrest a day earlier of two members of a motorcycle group for plotting an attack. Police say they found Islamic State propaganda in a raid this week that led to the arrests.

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“I believe that we are being confronted with a new stage in the history of Europe. The European authorities need to do more,” said Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel. “We have to defend our way of life, our freedom to go to the cinema, to go to the theater, to go out. We all have to be mobilized.”

This includes Americans in Bangladesh who were warned Tuesday by the U.S. Embassy in Dhaka of possible attacks against hotels and clubs timed for the New Year’s celebrations. Islamic State sympathizers have been appearing in that South Asian nation that was once dominated by moderate Islam.

Most of the world will still be safe on New Year’s, and we write this not as a counsel of worry. Free societies can’t be intimidated by terrorists. But the holiday terror arrests and alerts are a reminder that Islamic State is a global threat that needs to be destroyed in its home territory far more rapidly than the current pace.

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