With mosque attack in quiet Oman, a fragmented Islamic State group aims to show it can still strike

Associated Press

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — This week’s attack on a Shiite mosque in the capital stunned Oman, a quiet nation long spared militant violence. It underscores how the Islamic State group has turned to a strategy of surprise, dramatic strikes outside its usual battlegrounds — a way to show its resilience and inspire new recruits, analysts say. The radical group was shattered by a U.S.-led coalition that broke its territorial hold in Iraq and Syria several years ago, though its fighters are working to rebuild there. Fragmented and decentralized, its affiliates in Yemen, Afghanistan and elsewhere are working on their own to expand, experts say.