THERE are many questions to be answered at the end of this horrific week in which so many lives have been lost at the hands of terrorists in France.

How much did the authorities know about those involved in the attack on the Charlie Hebdo satirical magazine and the subsequent taking of hostages at a supermarket in Paris?

Should more have been done to prevent them launching an attack? Could the storming of the sieges have been better co-ordinated? Could more innocent lives have been saved if the operation had been handled differently?

These are legitimate questions because it is important that lessons are learned in the light of the tragic inevitability that more strikes are planned.

But we should also remember that the kind of events which have unfolded in and around Paris this week are still extremely rare.

It is only when terror plots turn into actual atrocities that the work of the intelligence services, police and armed forces is really opened up to public scrutiny. Errors are amplified. Criticism flows easily.

But all of that has to be kept in context because it is unrealistic to expect terrorism to be contained completely.

Attacks such as we have seen this week are mercifully rare because many more plots are intercepted before they come to fruition.

We will never know for sure how many lives have been saved through the skill and courage of those employed in the fight against terrorism – but we should certainly value their efforts and acknowledge the magnitude of the task they face in trying to keep us safe.