Interpol warns terrorists can use drones to attack infrastructure facilities

Terrorists could adapt and refine the tactics they use in conflict zone like portable unmanned aerial systems or drones with explosives to attack key facilities, Interpol Secretary-General Jurgen Stoc

New York, Feb 14: The Interpol has warned that terrorists could possibly use drones loaded with explosives to attack key infrastructure facilities, setting off cascading disasters that travel beyond national borders.

The world has become more vulnerable due to the cyber-connectivity of infrastructures, which has turned them into "an appealing target" for terrorists, Interpol Secretary-General Jurgen Stock told the Security Council by video-conference on Monday.

"As our cities and infrastructure evolve, so do their weapons," he said at a special session on combating terrorist threats to critical infrastructure like bridges, power lines, airports and nuclear power plants. Terrorists could adapt and refine the tactics they use in conflict zone like portable unmanned aerial systems or drones with explosives to attack key facilities, Stock said.

Other tactics they could adapt include hacking attacks, armoured vehicles carrying bombs and simultaneous outbreaks of shootings, he said.

Stock said that the international community should create critical standards and procedures to prepare for such eventualities. Countries should protect their borders and prevent movement of terrorists and intercept tools and materials that could be made into the next weapon, he added.

The Security Council earlier passed a resolution asking all countries to make terrorist acts serious criminal offences in their domestic laws and ensure that criminal responsibility is established for terrorist attacks on key infrastructure facilities. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin, who presided over the session, said that all countries must implement a strategy to counter terrorist attacks on infrastructure facilities and prevent their repetition by identifying perpetrators.

IANS