IN MY VIEW

ANOTHER week, another seemingly senseless shooting attack on innocent people.

No, not in the United States this time, but in the heart of Europe.

The continent has had its fill of terrorist attacks in recent months. Usually there has been a strong link with Islamic State, but this gunman had no known terrorist affiliations.

There are reports he suffered from depression, but most people with depression don’t take to the streets with a gun.

It’s more likely that he held some sort of grudge – either real or imagined – and was seeking either revenge or infamy.

He may well have been inspired by other so-called “lone wolf” attacks, possibly including the Nice lorry incident a week ago.

Why? Well, they are much easier to carry out. The Paris attacks last November were relatively sophisticated affairs, requiring much planning, coordination and logistics.

The Munich attacker required none of these. Just a gun and ammunition.

But can we defend ourselves against similar attacks? Unfortunately, the answer is not really. The only defence against such attacks in future is intelligence, but with no criminal record and no known terrorist affiliations, Ali Sonboly is likely to have been invisible to the authorities until he opened fire.

Sadly, there may well be more like him.