When two dozen militants from Lashkar-e-Taiba wrought havoc across Mumbai in 2008, it was the first example of a strategic evolution in transnational jihadism: the use of firearms, in lieu of explosives, in a peacetime urban centre. As Paris discovered last week, these tactics haven’t gone away.

With Australia having experienced the first fatal incident of jihadi terrorism on its own soil in December, it’s vitally important to understand how such incidents fit into the global jihadist framework.