For now, we don’t know what motivated Omar Mateen, the young American of Afghan descent who walked into a Florida nightclub on Saturday night and killed and wounded over 100 people. Early reports suggested that in an emergency phone call shortly after he began his rampage, he spoke of “allegiance” to ISIL and mentioned the Boston Marathon brothers. Other reports quoted his father saying it may have been motivated by homophobia, although his father subsequently said he did not believe that was the reason.
What we do know is that Mateen was organised and well-armed, and clearly intended to inflict mass casualties. In that, he has tragically succeeded. The killings point to a much broader problem, one that has been faced in the US before and has been faced in many countries around the world: the self-radicalised lone wolf.
After the attacks in San Bernardino in December, this newspaper asked questions that also apply to the killings in Florida. How was Mateen radicalised? How long had he been planning these attacks? Was he trained, either in the US or abroad? The FBI has suggested Mateen was on their radar – what did they know and when? All of these avenues must be explored.
Self-radicalisation poses an incredibly difficult problem. One security analyst pointed out after the Orlando assaults that since the September 11 attacks every lethal terrorist incident in the US has been carried out by US citizens or permanent residents, all of them either lone wolves or acting in pairs. Formal connections to terror organisations such as Al Qaeda or ISIL were non-existent.
This makes it extremely difficult for law enforcement. Lone wolves don’t leave much of a footprint – they have few connections to extremists and may not communicate with known groups. They are often radicalised online. That makes it all the more important that the ideology is tackled and that alternative ideas are disseminated in the same way as radical ones.
The only way is for countries and communities to stand together, for closer links between police and intelligence services between countries. As the UAE’s ambassador to the US Yousef Al Otaiba said: “We condemn the hate and fanaticism behind this unspeakable violence. We must all work together to promote tolerance and peace.” It is the only way to stop further attacks.