France 'not afraid' as IS urges lone-wolf attacks

France insisted today it was not spooked by a call for Muslims to kill citizens of countries fighting the Islamic State group, as Western nations scramble to prevent a surge in lone-wolf terrorism.
"France is not afraid," Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said repeatedly during a televised statement, after IS circulated grisly tips for its followers on how to kill "disbelievers".
The threat posed by the slick, web-savvy group that has seized large areas of Iraq and Syria has seen anti-terror laws rewritten, security boosted and raids carried out against homegrown jihadist groups from Europe to Australia.
However analysts say the rhetoric, while chilling, is nothing new.

"This is not the first time that a terrorist organisation has called for homegrown terrorism," said Erin Marie Saltman, a senior researcher at the London-based Quilliam think-tank.
She said that while Al-Qaeda and its affiliates have often called for individuals to carry out terrorist attacks, the tactic was however a change for the IS group which has until now sought to lure foreign fighters to join their ranks in Syria and Iraq.

This gambit has put Europe, the United States and Australia on high alert over fears that thousands who have gone to fight with IS could return and carry out attacks on home soil.

The UN Security Council will on Wednesday discuss a resolution that would oblige nations to prosecute those who travel to fight with jihadist groups or fund them.
President Barack Obama will preside over the efforts to boost international cooperation in the fight against IS, which has seen the US and France carry out air strikes against the group.
Australia is also deploying fighter jets to join the campaign.
France has around 930 citizens or residents, including at least 60 women, either actively engaged in jihad in Iraq and Syria or planning to go there.
Last week, the French parliament approved an "anti-terrorism" bill which will usher in a travel ban on anyone suspected of planning to wage jihad.

Meanwhile the United Kingdom and Australia were drawing up tougher laws of their own. Britain, which has raised its terror risk level to "severe", is planning measures that will allow police to temporarily strip departing suspects of passports at the border.
Saltman said the call by IS for individuals to kill "disbelievers" -- singling out "the spiteful and filthy French" and those taking part in an anti-jihadist coalition -- could "shake" counter-terrorism efforts.