For a nation that has remained relatively insulated from the terrorist violence that roiled the continent in recent years, the sight of British troops patrolling mainland UK streets — one consequence of the terror threat level rising to “critical” — will come as a particular shock. It will raise the spectre of 2003, when Tony Blair sent 400 soldiers with armoured vehicles to Heathrow, and the dangerous years that followed, when security services feared that they were losing their grasp on the problem. The bombing of Manchester Arena on Monday night is redolent of that period. It is the worst terrorist attack on Britain since the July 7 London bombings more than a decade ago and the worst-ever attack on Manchester and the north. But how new and advanced was this atrocity?
對于一個與最近幾年攪動歐洲大陸的恐怖暴力活動相對隔絕的國家而言，看到英國軍隊在英國本土街頭巡邏——這是把恐怖威脅級別提高到“危急”的一個后果——特別令人震驚。這讓人想起2003年，托尼?布萊爾(Tony Blair)向希斯羅機場(Heathrow)派出400名士兵和裝甲車，以及之后危險的幾年，那時安全部門擔(dān)心他們正在喪失對恐襲的掌控。本周一晚曼徹斯特劇場(Manchester Arena)的炸彈爆炸事件讓人想起那段日子。這是自2005年7月7日倫敦爆炸案以來英國遭遇的最嚴(yán)重恐怖襲擊，也是曼徹斯特乃至英格蘭北部史上最嚴(yán)重的恐怖襲擊。然而，這一暴行有什么新的特點和技術(shù)升級呢？