Within the last year, there has been an extremely high number of attacks that are both directed and inspired by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, better known as ISIS. How much does this group directly affect the people of Pennsylvania and the United States?

Though most of the attacks have been across the Atlantic Ocean, there are still small shootings that have occurred within the United States border. Leading up to the beginning of the 2016 year, there have been four known attacks.
On Oct. 23, 2015 in New York City, an attacker attempted an assault on a group of New York officers. This resulted in the injury of Officer Kenneth Healey with a critical head wound. The attacker, who was identified as Zale H. Thompson, was unprovoked but was seen stalking the group.

“This was an act of terrorism,” Police Commissioner Bill Bratton said in response to the confession of Thompson, who claimed the act as being carried out by self-ratification in order to convert himself to the Islamic faith.
Another of the four attacks occurred on on Jan. 7, 2016 in Philadelphia, Pa., where a man shot and wounded a police officer. The officer, seated in a patrol car, was shot at 11 different times with a stolen gun, of which three shots were successful in penetrating Officer Jesse Hartnett’s left arm. Though critically wounded, Officer Hartnett chased down the attacker, wounding him until arrest. The attacker, Edward Archer, later confessed his reasoning for the attack.
“I follow Allah and I pledge allegiance to the Islamic State. That is why I did what I did,” Archer said in an interview with Capt. James Clark, a commander at the Police Department’s homicide division.
Even though these attacks can directly relate to us because they happen on our soil, attacks overseas can indirectly affect us as well.

Widely known attacks such as the Paris crisis and, most recently, the attack on Brussels, Belgium occurred in very peaceful places.

The Brussels attack, on March 22, 2016, caused much anxiety over Belgium. It brought out the fact that it may be very hard to protect a civil country. Throughout the day of the attack, two bombings occurred, killing a total of 32 people, not including the three attackers. At 8:00 a.m., two bombs were set off in the Brussels Airport, which killed 30. Less than two hours later, another bombing was set in a subway station, killing another two.

About 15 of the 32 people killed were not native to Belgium, but were traveling to and from the country. This means the attacks are related not only to Belgium people, but others from throughout the continents.
It is hard to not only see numbers when hearing these bombings on news stations and websites, but we need to have a personal connection with the people that were affected.

“We heard a big noise and saw a big flash,” Ilaria Ruggiano, a passenger who was traveling with his mother and four others said. “My mother went to the floor — she was hit. I just dropped my luggage and went to the floor. A kid came out, bleeding a lot. I tried to help him with a tissue, but it was not enough. There were two bombs.”
Throughout the last year, there have been approximately 90 overall attacks caused by ISIS views throughout the world, and many can have a direct effect towards the people of the United States.