A counter-terrorism expert believes the Islamist gunmen who carried out a deadly attack in Paris almost certainly had combat experience.
"This is something that seems to be the work of professionals," Monash University professor Greg Barton told ABC radio on Thursday.
"It looks like guys who have seen combat experience, know how to handle their assault rifles, and are working fully and calmly through a plan of attack."
That was "something new" as far as terror attacks were concerned.
French media is reporting that two of the three alleged suspects who shot dead 12 people in an attack on the offices of a satirical weekly magazine are brothers, aged 34 and 32.
They are reportedly French-Algerians who returned to France from Syria in the past year.
Prof Barton said the fact that the attack lasted about 10 minutes and involved the fatal shooting of an injured policeman "in cold blood" looked like the men were not easily spooked.
He said that foreign fighters who made it through combat experience overseas and returned home were "much, much more dangerous and radicalised".
"They have practical, tactical trade craft they didn't have previously and this pattern seems to fit the darkest fears we have about Islamic State."
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