A man killed one person and injured two others in a knife attack in central Paris on Saturday. The police later arrested him. According to a police source quoted by Agence France Presse, the attacker shouted “Allahu Akbar,” God is great, after the attack. The anti-terrorism prosecutor’s office is investigating the case.
The events occurred around 9:30 p.m. near the Bir Hakeim Bridge, between the 15th and 16th arrondissements of the French capital, which is popular with tourists from all over the world for its views of the Eiffel Tower. The deceased was a German tourist.
After the attack, the perpetrator crossed the Seine on the bridge and, while being pursued by the police, attacked two other people, one of them with a hammer. When he was arrested, he said he was tired of seeing Muslims die in Afghanistan and Palestine.
According to Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin, who was at the scene, the attacker was a 26-year-old Frenchman who was born in Neuilly-sur-Seine, a wealthy town west of Paris. He lived with his parents in the province of Essonne, south of the capital.
Darmanin told the press that the attacker was known to the judicial and intelligence services. In 2016 he was sentenced to four years in prison for preparing a violent act that he was unable to carry out. He suffered from “very significant psychiatric disorders and is undergoing treatment,” the minister said.
The attack came less than two months after an Islamist stabbed a high school teacher in Arras, northern France. And eight months before the Olympic Games in Paris, a challenge for the authorities due to the threat of terrorist attacks.
Join EL PAÍS to follow all the news and read without restrictions.
Subscribe to
Follow all international information on Facebook and Xor in our weekly newsletter.
Subscribe to continue reading
Read without limits
_