THE coronavirus pandemic has, over the past year, forced countries to impose lockdowns and close their borders, leading to a drop in public events and gatherings as well as a sharp slowdown in travel.
These have meant that, for the most part, extremist terrorism has dropped off the headlines and seen a dip in impact.
But the threat has not receded, as incidents like the beheading of schoolteacher Samuel Paty in France and the recent arrests of terror operatives and discovery of new training sites in Indonesia show.
Twenty years after the Sept 11,2001, terror attack by al-Qaeda on the United States and the discovery of regional terror network Jemaah Islamiah (JI), there is a need to be alert to three broad trends on the terror front.
One, a resurgence of traditional terror organisations like JI.
Two, a spike in radicalisation as people spend more time online.
Three, new mutations of terror.