Does Paris attack prove Islamic State is attracting younger followers?

One of the most appalling details related by witnesses of the violence in Paris on Friday night is that several of the killers could have been extremely young, possibly only 18, or even 15, years old. This image of teenagers – still of school age, wielding automatic weapons to kill scores of people – is deeply shocking.

So far, the only attacker who has been fully identified was 29 years old, and it is unclear if the witnesses’ descriptions of other terrorists is accurate. But their apparent youth would fit an emerging picture of those attracted to the Islamic State’s ideology and – perhaps more importantly - the twisted “gangsta-jihadi lifestyle” some believe it offers.

One trend of recent years in Islamic militancy has been the shift from foreigners launching an attack in the west – such as the 9/11 attacks – to so-called “home-grown” extremists. We still don’t know where all the Paris attackers came from, and this is hugely important in determining the nature of the threat going forward.