For Burkina Faso’s finest citizens, it was only another day of living life. Seated in the most exemplary seats of a restaurant in Burkina Faso, these men and women were prepared to chatter amongst one another and experience a fine-dining dinner cuisine like never before. Everything changed when several masked men battered down the door, armed with lethal weapons with only one goal: to kill.

After a seemingly declining period of over two weeks without absolutely any terrorist action, Al-qaeda forces stormed Burkina Faso’s capital on January 16, 2016, slaughtering dozens of innocent people. After a staggering 12-hour firefight between police forces and the Al-qaeda, the terrorists were captured with the cost of over 28 dead. Shortly after the gunfight, the Al-qaeda group released an audiotape claiming responsibility and sending a message through “blood and body parts.” The only thing left for the president of Burkina Faso, Roch Marc Christian Kabore, to say was, “We appeal to the people to be vigilant and brave because we must fight on.” Although this may have been a horrifying event leading to manslaughter, it is only one of numerous terrorist attacks that have been occurring globally.

In 2015, there were over 200 accounts of terrorist attacks in different forms; bombings, shooting massacres, melee attacks, suicide bombings, and much more. A select few rose up to the top of the news columns, such as the Paris bombings and Boko Haram assaults. Shockingly, over one fourth of these attacks in 2015 were found even more deadly than terrorist assaults that were at the top of global headlines. This poses the conclusion that terrorist attacks are occurring sporadically and constantly. Controversy has been rising on terrorist motives for striking, whether it was for religious purposes or to assert dominance and power. One popular theory is that ISIL rose to the top and began wreaking havoc to spread its name, and other terrorist groups such as Boko Haram created additional attacks in struggle to keep up. Regardless of motives, the only conclusion we could make is that terrorists are dangerous, and forces such as ISIL and Boko Haram have undercover men and women spread out all over the world. With terrorism at an all-time rise, there is no doubt that it must be considered the number one global issue today and be solved as efficiently and quickly as possible.

<David Yi, Oxford Academy, 9th Grade>