'Retail terrorism' is here to stay, says terror expert

A terror expert has warned that it is much more difficult to detect "retail terrorism" and that every place where people live and work becomes a target.

According to News.com.au, former US official and president of the Consul on Foreign Relations, Dr Richard Haass, told CNN, "the single most important lesson" to take from the Paris siege is "that this is not an exception".

Haass' comments come amid a fresh attack on a Jewish grocer in eastern Paris where Amedy Coulibay held and killed four hostages.

The siege at the Paris kosher deli ended after the hostage-taker was killed in the raid.

Haass suggested that sieges like these could be the new normal.He said that this was retail terrorism and that roughly a half dozen incidents in the US, Canada, Australia and France had been witnessed, as opposed to something as dramatic as September 11.

Earlier, a similar siege was reported in Sydney last month where an Iranian gunman stormed a cafe and took dozens of people hostage before he was shot dead.