(1). 1:None of the attackers in Dresden, Paris, Nice or Vienna is thought to have reached Iraq or Syria. 2:Though the Dresden suspect had been convicted of recruiting on behalf of IS and downloading terrorist manuals, he is believed to have been radicalised only after arriving in Germany five years ago. 3:Mr Paty’s killer is known to have had contact with a jihadist in Syria, but he never fought there and was not known to the French authorities. 4:The Nice attacker, who had crossed from Tunisia to Italy in late September, had been arrested in Tunisia for using a knife but was not otherwise on the radar of Tunisian, Italian or French authorities. 5:The problem seems to be less about hardened combat veterans than those with looser ties to the jihadist ecosystem turning to violent action.
(2). 1: The recent attacks also highlight another worrying pattern. 2: Mr Fejzulaiwas let out of prison early; the Dresden suspect had been released only five days before his attack. That reflects a wider failure of counter- terrorism policy, as does the fact that Mr Fejzulai had completed a deradicalisation programme that was evidently unsuccessful. 3: “In many European countries the priority was to get people locked up,” says Peter Neumann of King’s College London, “and then to forget about them, with many becoming further radicalised in prison.”