Knife attack in Paris - Young German dies in suspected terror attack near the Eiffel Tower
A young German tourist has been killed in an apparently Islamist knife attack in Paris. French Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin and the public prosecutor's office announced on Sunday night that the victim was a German born in the Philippines in 1999. The perpetrator, who was known to be an Islamist and is said to have shouted "Allahu Akbar" (God is great) during the attack, injured two other people. He was arrested.
The knife attack took place on Saturday evening near the Eiffel Tower in Paris. The perpetrator had attacked a foreign tourist couple, said Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin during a visit to the scene of the crime. "A German tourist, who was born in the Philippines, died from the stabs." According to the public prosecutor's office, the victim was born in 1999.
According to Darmanin, the German tourist's companion remained physically unharmed because a cab driver intervened. The attacker then ran across a bridge over the Seine to the other side of the river and attacked other people there. He injured one person in the eye with a hammer and another person suffered shock.
According to the information provided, the injured were a Frenchman aged around 60 and a foreign tourist. Darmanin did not disclose the nationality of the latter.
Paris: Attacker has criminal record for attack plans
An eyewitness, who was in a bar nearby during the attack, described hearing cries for help and seeing people running away. A man "with a hammer in his hand" attacked another man, who then fell. After "five to ten minutes", the police arrived.
According to police sources, the attacker is said to have shouted "Allahu Akbar" (God is great) during his attack. The Frenchman, who was born in 1997, was disabled with a Taser and arrested for murder and attempted murder. The national anti-terrorism prosecutor's office took over the investigation.
According to Interior Minister Darmanin, the attacker had a criminal record. He had been sentenced to five years in prison in 2016 for planning another attack, of which he served four years. After his attack on Saturday, he stated that he could not stand Muslims being killed in "Afghanistan and Palestine". He expressed his anger about the Gaza war and that France was Israel's "accomplice".
According to police sources, the French-born son of Iranian parents was known to be a radical Islamist. He had suffered from psychological problems, was "very unstable" and had therefore received psychiatric treatment during and after his detention.
Confessor video on social media
It was also reported that the young man had published a video on online networks at around the same time as his attack on Saturday, in which he referred to "the current situation, the government, the murder of innocent Muslims".
French President Emmanuel Macron expressed his "condolences" to the relatives of the German victim on the online service X (formerly Twitter). Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne declared on X: "We will not give in to terrorism." At the same time, she praised "the courage and professionalism of our security and rescue forces". Darmanin also emphasized the "courageous" intervention of the police on X.
Two months ago, the highest attack alert level was declared for France after a radicalized ex-student stabbed a 57-year-old teacher and injured three other staff members at a school in Arras in northern France. The 20-year-old perpetrator, who came from Ingushetia in Russia, had previously pledged allegiance to the jihadist militia Islamic State (IS).
In Paris, there have been several attacks similar to the one on Saturday evening in recent years. In May 2018, a Russian-French attacker born in Chechnya killed a passer-by with a kitchen knife and injured four other people before the police killed him. IS claimed responsibility for the attack.
In February 2017, an Egyptian man attacked security forces near the Louvre with a machete while shouting "Allah Akbar". He was sentenced to 30 years in prison in June 2021.
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Source: www.stern.de
