Terrorism in Paris

drawing of the Eiffel Tower The recent extremist attacks by ISIS in Paris have shocked the world. The death toll is significant in part because of where and when the attacks took place and the apparent randomness of targets. It appears that most perpetrators were radicalized extremists from within the EU and France itself, rather than individuals arriving from ISIL held territories. This kind of terrorism while difficult to fathom is almost impossible to prevent or predict, because of the lone wolf nature of most attacks. In Paris, the highly coordinated nature of the six separate attack sites appears to indicate increasingly sophisticated tactics.