The man who took 17 people hostage in central Sydney on Monday showed a new and chilling tactic. While hostage-taking is hardly novel for terrorists, the manner of the Sydney takeover of a cafe is disturbing. It is unknown whether the hostage-taker was operating on orders or instructions from colleagues, or, more likely, the plan came from his own twisted mind. What is certain is there will be copycats. The man succeeded in his aim to terrorise for no other reason than chaos.
But we do know some things about the man who took over the Lindt chocolate cafe. Man Haron Monis is described as a twisted, criminal and possibly sick man. He faced many legal charges before police killed him to end the 16-hour hostage crisis. He carried a cloth emblazoned with the traditional Koranic verse: "There is no God but Allah, and Mohammed is His messenger." His faith was obviously as confused as his recent life; he was a Shia who had supported the Islamic State, which kills Shia.
Nor was Monis a "lone wolf" in the true sense of that phrase. Rather, as US commentators have noted, he was a "known wolf". He has long been familiar in law-enforcement circles. His crimes range spectacularly. He harassed the families of men killed in Iraq. He ran "black magic clinics", and several dozen women had filed charges that sexual abuse occurred at his sessions. He and his girlfriend were accused of killing his wife and burning her body.
But his crime of Monday was a different sort, essentially following the plot of plenty of Hollywood action films. Armed with a handgun, he burst into the cafe, screamed at staff and customers to get down and obey him. He told them and authorities he had planted bombs around the business. This claim ensured authorities would not immediately attack the hostage scene or interfere with the man himself.
Meanwhile, the armed takeover of the cafe caused massive disturbance, some panic — and media coverage that put him and his action at the centre. And not just in Sydney. The taking of the hostages, the terror it immediately caused and the reactions of authorities were the focus of worldwide attention, including in this newspaper.
This is an outcome that many of today's terrorist groups savour. The Islamic State has recently sought a high profile around the globe, and Monis' claim to be aligned with them heightened the publicity. Terrorism experts believe lone wolves are the newest and currently most important face of global terrorism. Some immigrants, particularly in the West, openly abuse the welcome they receive from their new countries. They refuse to integrate, and turn against the country and its people, sometimes violently.
The important point of Monday's violence in Sydney, however, is the danger it poses everywhere. In theory at least, and probably in practice from now on, no important city is safe from such a ruthless action. Indonesia, the Philippines, Singapore and Malaysia, for example, all have found local recruits of the IS group.
It is a maniacal tactic — one person, putting a large urban area at risk with little more than a gun and a threat to set off bombs only he knows of. Anti-terrorism experts and their police need to be busy immediately studying and figuring out ways to counter such threats. As Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha has said, the most effective method is to track and find such agents of terrorism before they can strike.