French officials launched a “terrorist attack” investigation last night after a convicted Iranian Islamist allegedly stabbed a German tourist and injured two others, including a Briton.
Armand Rajabpour-Miyandoab, 26, was arrested at the scene on Saturday after a violent knife and hammer rampage near the Eiffel Tower.
He brutally attacked three men, including a 24-year-old German-Filipino nurse who suffered a fatal heart attack after the attack, which took place in front of his wife and a friend.
He then allegedly targeted a 66-year-old British tourist in the foyer of an apartment block, ramming a knife into his right eye, and then hit a 60-year-old French father in the head with a hammer as he walked with his wife and child.
The terrorism prosecutor’s office said on Sunday that it was investigating the attacker, who is suspected of murder and attempted murder, “in connection with a terrorist attack.”
Three people “close” to Rajabpour-Miyandoab were taken into custody yesterday afternoon following the incident at the Bir Hakeim Bridge over the Seine, prosecutors said.
Armand Rajabpour-Miyandoab, 26, (pictured) was released from prison in 2020 and stayed at home with his parents while he underwent “psychiatric and neurological treatment”.
According to Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin, a French citizen born to Iranian parents and known as a radical Islamist, he shouted “Allahu Akbar” – Arabic for “God is the greatest” – and declared his support for ISIS as he carried out his brutal Attack started.
The 26-year-old suspect had already been sentenced to four years in prison in 2016 for a failed attack in Paris’ La Défense business district, and Darmanin confirmed that the suspect was officially on an “S list” for surveillance.
The deadly attack near the Eiffel Tower at around 9pm (8pm in the UK) on a busy weekend came as France was on the highest level of alert as tensions rose in the war between Israel and Hamas.
Rajabpour-Miyandoab was released from prison in early 2020 and remained at home with his parents in the Essonne region, south of Paris, while he underwent “psychiatric and neurological treatment.”
He told police he could not stand that Muslims were being killed in “Afghanistan and Palestine” and accused France of being “an accomplice of what Israel is doing in Gaza,” Darmanin added.
Investigators would take a close look at his medical history, a security source told AFP, saying the attacker was “very unstable and easily influenced.”
Rajabpour-Miyandoab is being monitored “in a way that does not mean that he is hospitalized and that he should undergo treatment for his psychological problems,” said Aurélien Rousseau, the French health minister.
Armand Rajabpour-Miyandoab shouted “Allahu Akbar” as he was arrested by Paris police and immobilized with a stun gun
“As is often the case in these cases, there is a mixture of ideology, an easily influenced person and, unfortunately, psychiatry,” he added.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz wrote on X that he was “devastated” by the attack and said that “our thoughts are with the wounded, their families and friends.”
His interior minister, Nancy Faeser, had previously warned that “the war in Gaza following the Hamas terrorist attack (October 7) has intensified the threat” and said that “the threat of Islamist terrorism is acute and serious.”
Police and security sources confirmed that the attacker claimed responsibility in a social media video when he struck, speaking of “current events, the government (and) the murder of innocent Muslims.”
The 24-year-old German-Filipino nurse was killed when a taxi driver intervened to keep the attacker away from his wife.
Patrick Pelloux, an emergency doctor on duty at the time of the attack, said the pair were both nurses, adding that the woman suffered severe shock but was unhurt.
Video of the suspect’s arrest shows him slowly backing away from several French police officers while holding what appears to be a hammer.
Two officers approach him as he backs away on a street corner in Paris.
After a chase and the intervention of a taxi driver, Rajabpour-Miyandoab was eventually incapacitated by police using Tasers.
Rousseau told broadcaster France 3 that the injured victims had only suffered “superficial (physical) trauma, but of course psychological trauma, which will be enormous.”
On Sunday, both surviving victims were still receiving medical treatment – one at the Georges Pompidou Hospital in Paris, the other at the city’s Cochin Hospital. Her condition is “stable”.
Prosecutors announced a press conference for Sunday at 7:30 p.m. to provide an update on the investigation.
French gendarmes patrol Trocadero Square near the Eiffel Tower after Saturday’s bloodbath
French police visit the crime scene following the terrorist knife attack near the Bir Hakeim Bridge and the Quai de Grenelle
After the terrorist attack in the French capital, a forensic scientist was working at the crime scene on Saturday evening
According to prosecution documents, Rajabpour-Miyandoab converted to Islam in 2015 after being radicalized online by an ISIS supporter.
Rajabpour-Miyandoab was known for forging online connections with other terrorists, including Larossi Aballa, who stabbed two police officers in Magnanville in June 2016.
Another Facebook friend was Adel Kermiche, one of the perpetrators when a Catholic priest was stabbed to death in Saint-Étienne du Rouvray that same year.
Many of those linked to such crimes, like Rajabpour-Miyandoab, were on an S-file, meaning they were under official surveillance.
Rajabpour-Miyandoab later claimed to have completed a “deradicalization program” and claimed he had lost interest in terrorism.
In court in 2018, he said: “Islamism has ruined my life” and claimed he had started drinking beer and eating pork – activities forbidden to practicing Muslims.
However, online activity showed that Rajabpour-Miyandoab was still researching the creation of phosphorus bombs and posted a video in which he made disguised political statements.
The attacker, named locally as Armand R., shouted “Allahu Akbar” as he was arrested by Paris police and immobilized with a stun gun
The deadly attack in central Paris on a busy weekend night sparked a frenzy of attack across the country
The attack shocked France, where tensions were rising over the Israel-Hamas conflict
Following the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel and the Israeli bombing of the Gaza Strip, tensions have increased in France, which has a large Jewish and Muslim population
The deadly attack in central Paris on a busy weekend night left the country on high alert as tensions rose against the backdrop of the war between Israel and Hamas.
The second victim of the attack was British and was traveling with his wife when Armand R. attacked him from behind.
“The family was on Avenue President Kennedy when they were attacked,” an investigating source said, adding: “A hammer was used to hit the man on the head.”
The Englishman was taken to hospital where his condition was later described as “stable”. A third victim was also seriously injured in a hammer attack, the source said.
The British Foreign Office said on Sunday: “We are supporting a Briton who was injured in Paris and are in contact with local authorities.”
The area at Bir Hakeim Bridge, usually bustling with tourists and locals, was cordoned off by police and illuminated by the flashing lights of security forces and emergency services.
A taxi driver who had witnessed the scene intervened, Darmanin said.
“He had threatened them very strongly … he now has to answer for his actions in court,” Darmanin said.
The attack shocked France, where tensions were rising over the Israel-Hamas conflict.
President Emmanuel Macron said he offered his condolences to the family of a German man killed in the “terrorist attack.”
A police source said the attacker was known to have psychiatric disorders and said he could not bear to see Muslims being killed around the world. In the picture: French police secure access to the Bir Hakeim Bridge
A man has been stabbed while a British tourist was reportedly seriously injured alongside two others after a knifeman shouting “Allahu Akbar” launched a frenzied attack in Paris. In the picture: Police secure access to the Bir Hakeim Bridge near the Eiffel Tower
A police source said the attacker was known to have psychiatric disorders and said he could not bear to see Muslims being killed around the world
Macron, writing on
“We will not give in to terrorism,” wrote Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne after the attack on X.
“Paris mourns this terrible attack,” wrote Transport Minister Clement Beaune on X.
Joseph S., a 37-year-old supermarket manager who asked that his last name not be used, witnessed the scene while sitting in a bar and said he heard screaming and people shouting “Help, help” as he ran. shouted.
He said a man attacked a fallen man with an object and within 10 minutes police arrived.
One person died and another was injured, Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said on the social media platform X
Police officers stand guard. Officials said there was no initial indication of the motive for the stabbing
France has suffered several attacks by Islamist extremists, including the Islamic State group’s suicide and gun attacks in Paris in November 2015 that killed 130 people.
There has been a relative lull in recent years, although authorities have warned that the threat remains.
But tensions have increased in France, home to a large Jewish and Muslim population, following Hamas’ October 7 attack on Israel and Israel’s bombing of the Gaza Strip.
Security in Paris is also under special scrutiny as part of the preparations for the 2024 Summer Olympics.
In October, teacher Dominique Bernard was killed in the northern French city of Arras by a young radicalized Islamist from Russia’s Caucasus region.