World leaders joined voices in an international chorus of outrage and condemnation after a string of militant attacks in France, Kuwait and Tunisia on Friday left dozens dead.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon strongly condemned the “appalling” attacks and said those responsible “must be swiftly brought to justice.”
One person was found decapitated at a gas factory in southeastern France while in Tunisia gunmen killed at least 37 people at a beach resort frequented by European tourists. At least five British tourists were among the victims.
Another 27 people died in a suicide bombing claimed by IS militants at a Shia mosque in Kuwait.
While there were no indications that the attacks were coordinated, they came days after the IS extremist group urged supporters to carry out Ramadan attacks, AFP reported.
European leaders condemned the “heinous” attacks, vowing to maintain a united front against “barbarism.”
French President Francois Hollande and his Tunisian counterpart Beji Caid Essebsi expressed their solidarity against the “scourge” of terrorism.
He also announced he was raising the security level to the highest possible in the Lyon region, where the gas factory attack took place.
Among his fellow European Union leaders gathered for a summit in Brussels, Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy was one of the first to react to news of the attack in France.
“Barbarism will always be confronted by unity among democrats,” he wrote in a message on Twitter. Spain, which shares a border with southwestern France, swiftly raised its terror alert level from medium to high.
The White House also expressed concern over the string of attacks and vowed to “fight the scourge of terrorism,” offering all three countries “any necessary support.”
Aides said US President Barack Obama was being regularly briefed on the attacks, which spanned continents and happened during the Muslim day of prayer in the holy month of Ramadan.
The word “heinous” was repeated time and again, as politicians worldwide reacted to the attacks.
Perverted Ideology
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said the attacks “show the challenges we face when it comes to fighting terrorism and extremism,” while Britain’s Prime Minister David Cameron called the attacks the fruit of “perverted ideology.”
The EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini after the summit urged the Arab world and Europe to stay united.
“Arabs, Europeans, Muslims, non-Muslims, we are together, in the same boat. The response will be more unity and expressing very clearly, as an alliance of civilizations, that there can be no way in which a religion be misused to tear us apart.”
Italy’s Prime Minister Matteo Renzi said the attack in France “confirms that beyond the known battlefronts, there are small and very well-organized groups.”
Czech President Milos Zeman described IS group as “a cancer,” calling for its training camps to be destroyed.
Barbarism Condemned
Muslim clerics condemned the tripartite attacks, using some of the strongest language to slam the barbarism.
A task force against extremism set up by Egypt’s mufti, the government’s interpreter of Islamic law, said the attacks had done untold damage to the image of Islam “far more than what anyone else has done, whether Muslim or non-Muslim.”
Prominent Sunni cleric Yusuf al-Qaradawi said on Twitter the militants were worse than beasts.
“Beasts don’t kill other animals except for what they need to eat, but some people never get their fill from murder and blood.”
Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper said he was “both saddened and angered to learn of the heinous attacks.”
The Argentinean, Mexican and Brazilian governments were also among those strongly condemning the attack.
European Council President Donald Tusk said that the attack in Tunisia affected foreign tourists but also “the security of the whole region and, in the longer term, the security of Europe.”
