Way back in 2001, just after the second plane hit the second World Trade Center tower, before anyone in the US really thought much about terrorism, I turned to my girlfriend (who would later become my wife) and told her that it made sense that the second plane would wait a short while. It means that they get more media coverage. And it would not surprise me in the least if we would see something else a short while later (which we did). And so on.
As it turned out, there wasn’t a whole lot more after the Pentagon plane hit, but there certainly could have been more. A whole lot more.
In fact, that was a part of the story in the 2007 movie The Kingdom, which starts with a bombing and then another bombing shortly thereafter, designed to do the most damage not with the first attack, but with the second, when rescue attempts are at their strongest (and the media is present as well).
So it really doesn’t surprise me a whole lot that this is now unfolding in the real world as well. If anything, I am surprised that it hasn’t happened more.
I am far from an expert, but the newspaper tells us that a suicide bomber detonated their explosive device as a crowd gathered to help in the aftermath of the first explosion. It seems like an excellent tactic if terror is really your focus. A single attack is relatively simple, and can come out of nowhere. Good, but perhaps less than effective, especially in today’s world.
A second attack of this nature would be so much more impressive, as it not only has the same impact as the first, it may potentially scare off anyone rushing to the aid of the victims from the first attack, and it could be caught by whatever media is covering the event.
Chilling to be sure, and an escalation in the war, but certainly much more effective.