THE carnage in Norway at the weekend has left most people shocked.
But amid that shock, there's also a slightly sick feeling that we've been here before.
Mass killings are, sadly, becoming more and more common, but the actions of Anders Behring Breivik have upped the ante to a new, even more
horrific, level.
Seven people were killed when a bomb went off in Oslo's government district and, just hours later, at least 85 people were gunned down on Utoeya Island. Breivik has claimed responsibility for both incidents.
From Martin Bryant's mass murder of 35 people at Port Arthur, to the shootings at Columbine High School, to the Virginia Tech massacre, there's now a well-established list of these sorts of killings.
All of these incidents are horrific by their nature but in this case, just like at Columbine, the horror is amplified by the needless death of so many young people - Utoeya Island was hosting a Labour Party youth camp when Breivik went on his rampage.
It's also impossible to escape the suspicion that other twisted minds will have taken notice of Breivik's actions.
Extremism feeds on extremism, and unfortunately, this will not be the last we see of these types of attacks.
The only even slightly positive thing to come out of this tragedy is the fact Breivik did not take his own life before finally being captured by police, like so many others who have gone on killing sprees.
While many will argue he'd be better off dead, this provides a chance to at least discover his motives, if not understand them. Some will also find solace in the fact that Breivik will now go through the court process.
But no potential prison term - the figure being bandied about is 21 years - will ever compensate for the death and destruction that shattered the heart of Norway over the weekend.
