Why bombs alone cannot beat insurgents

IT IS widely reported that Hamza bin Laden, son of al-Qaida founder Osama, has been killed in a US air strike. Some two decades after 9/11, while the global terrorism environment has been reshaped by the loss of al-Qaida offshoot ISIS' former territories in the Middle East, the threat from terrorism is still clear and present, which poses a major concern to international policy makers.

Last spring, for instance, there were a number of major terrorist atrocities, including the Easter bombings in Sri Lanka, for which ISIS claimed responsibility. The shocks from those attacks, which killed around 250 people, continue to reverberate through its economy, which is suffering its worst crisis since the nation's Civil War ended in 2009.

And the United Nations warned in a major new report last week that a new wave of terrorists attacks is possible before the end of this year. The primary concern here is the up to estimated 30,000 foreigners who travelled to fight in the so-called former ISIS "caliphate" in the Middle East, many of whom are still believed to be alive.