'The breeding ground for jihadists is the denial of democracy'

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Four terror attacks on Friday that left scores dead across four countries on three different continents raised speculation that Islamic State had launched a concerted offensive from its Syrian and Iraqi stronghold to mark the first anniversary of its Caliphate. However, an expert on jihadist movements, Wassim Nasr, dismisses the idea that the outrages in France, Tunisia, Kuwait and Somalia were part of a coordinated campaign, and says the West still does not understand Islamic State's real strategy. In a wide-ranging interview with Mediapart, the specialist contends that Western states, including France, have themselves created the breeding ground for jihadist groups by backing dictatorships over democratically-elected popular movements. Pierre Puchot reports.

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An expert on jihadist groups has rejected suggestions that the wave of terror attacks in four different countries on Friday were part of a concerted attack by the group Islamic State. In the aftermath of the attacks in France, where a man was decapitated at a gas factory near Lyon, in Tunisia where foreign tourists were shot dead on a beach, in Kuwait where a suicide attack in a Shia mosque claimed 27 lives and in Somalia, where African Union soldiers were massacred, some have claimed these were part of a coordinated attempt by Isis to mark the anniversary of the establishment of its Caliphate from its strongholds in Syria and Iraq.

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