Has the threat of ISIS returned to the United States and Europe?

Analysis from ITV News' Global Security Editor Rohit Kacharoo

On the first day of 2025, the suspected terrorist attack in New Orleans echoed some of the most harrowing attacks of the previous decade.

A pickup truck was driven into crowds of New Year revelers, killing at least fifteen people, and injuring many more. The city, alive with festivities, was abruptly plunged into chaos.

Footage of the attack spread rapidly online, capturing scenes of panic and devastation, further amplifying the psychological impact.

Vehicle-ramming attacks have become a grim hallmark of modern terrorism. Popularised by Al-Qaeda and later refined by the so-called Islamic State (ISIS) during the height of its self-declared Caliphate, such attacks have proven brutally effective.

ISIS propaganda frequently encouraged followers to use large vehicles to target crowds and then continue the assault with knives or firearms, maximising casualties before being killed and achieving so-called “martyrdom”. This was the pattern followed by the New Orleans attacker. No training or resources were required.

This approach to terrorism has left an indelible mark on recent history. In 2016, an ISIS-inspired lorry driver killed 86 people in Nice, France, during Bastille Day celebrations.

The following year, near London Bridge, a terrorist cell killed eight people and injured dozens more in a similar attack. They had initially tried to hire a larger vehicle to cause even greater devastation.

Subscribe free to our weekly newsletter for exclusive and original coverage from ITV News. Direct to your inbox every Friday morning.

Late last night, as photographs emerged showing an Islamic State flag concealed on the vehicle used in the Louisiana attack, a chilling clue to the perpetrator’s motivations was provided.

It later emerged that Shamsud-Din Jabbar, the suspected attacker, had spoken in videos about “dreams” that inspired him to join ISIS and had expressed intentions to kill his family. These recordings are now under FBI scrutiny.

Nearly six years after the territorial defeat of ISIS, this atrocity raises pressing questions: has the threat from the group truly returned to the United States and Europe?

The truth is that it never truly disappeared. The appeal of the vehicle attack is that it doesn’t require a central infrastructure to offer planning support.

While ISIS lost its physical Caliphate, the ideology that fueled it endures, evolving in response to changing global dynamics. The removal of the Assad regime in Syria, a new presidency in the United States, and the ongoing war in Gaza are among the factors reshaping patterns of radicalisation around the world.

Have you heard The Trapped? Listen as Daniel Hewitt exposes the UK's dirty secret