Manuel Valls, the French prime minister, has said the associates of extremists who targeted France last week could use chemical and biological weapons.
Two questions arise: how great is that risk, and does it justify the bill that Valls has introduced into parliament extending the state of emergency declared after Friday’s attacks for another three months?
The possibility of a mass casualty strike on a city in the west or elsewhere by Islamic militants using some kind of biological or chemical agent is a nightmare scenario. It has been intermittently raised by officials over the last 20-odd years. Yet there has never been such an attack. Nor has any evidence emerged of even the most capable extremist outfits coming close to executing one.
Two questions arise: how great is that risk, and does it justify the bill that Valls has introduced into parliament extending the state of emergency declared after Friday’s attacks for another three months?
The possibility of a mass casualty strike on a city in the west or elsewhere by Islamic militants using some kind of biological or chemical agent is a nightmare scenario. It has been intermittently raised by officials over the last 20-odd years. Yet there has never been such an attack. Nor has any evidence emerged of even the most capable extremist outfits coming close to executing one.
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