Countries face increased terror threat as lockdowns ease: Pool Re

Countries face an increasing risk of terrorist attacks as economies reopen after lockdown measures that have been imposed since the COVID-19 outbreak, according to a  Pool Re sector risk report on the public transport industry.

“The easing of lockdown measures could provide a greater opportunity for terrorists to operate, potentially leading to a surge in attacks, exacerbated by increased radicalisation during the pandemic,” Pool Re warned.

It urged policymakers to pay more attention to less obvious targets, especially potentially less secure sites in suburban areas.

Public transport networks could represent particularly appealing terrorist targets, Pool Re noted.

“Public transport nodes will be some of the first crowded places to return and represent easy to access targets for terrorist actors using low complexity methodologies, making them a possible target for future attacks,” it said.

“A terrorist attack against a public transport infrastructure can have short term negative impacts on local economies and public confidence. These negative effects would be particularly damaging as the economy begins to recover post-COVID.”

Pool Re noted that terrorists have largely used low sophistication methodologies in their attacks on public transport, such as bladed weapons, because “they are quick to plan, easy to execute and hard to prevent.”

However, it cautioned that more sophisticated attacks, such as bombings, could not be ruled out in the future.

Any attacks on public transport are likely to cause more than just property and business interruption damage, Pool Re added, undermining public confidence in transport networks which would then cause secondary economic damage.

Pool Re urged policymakers to consider public awareness campaigns, as well as developing detailed contingency plans, to mitigate the risk from terrorist attacks on public transport infrastructure.

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