On home soil is greater than ever

pally against symbols of power and civilians in Europe. Some operations were complex, requiring skill in coordinating a large team, the supply of cars and weapons, managing escape routes and safe houses.

Most elaborate was the five-pronged attack in Paris in November 2015, culminating in the murder of scores of concert-goers in the Bataclan hall. In March last year attacks in Brussels left 32 dead. But IS appears to have found it increasingly difficult to find recruits capable of running such complex outrages. A year ago it switched to a new tactic — attacks by a lone terrorist — and urged militants to kill victims by “smashing his head with a rock, or slaughter him with a knife, or run him over with your car”. Dartford-born Masood appears to have taken them at their word. And now, with the IS hold on its bases in Raqqa and Mosul crumbling, and many militants returning to Europe, the threat on home soil will be greater than ever.