One dead and two injured after knife attack in Paris – suspected terrorism. 59-year-old is executed by lethal injection for double murder in the US

A suspected Islamist is said to have murdered a German tourist with a knife in Paris on Saturday evening, not far from the Eiffel Tower. Two other people were injured, one of them with a hammer. French Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin wrote on X that police had arrested the alleged perpetrator. During a visit to the crime scene, Darmanin told several media that the perpetrator was known to the domestic secret service because of radical Islamism and “significant mental disorders.”

Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne wrote about X: “We will not give in to terrorism. Never.” The National Counter-Terrorism Prosecution said it would investigate the attack.

The attacker attacked a ‘German tourist couple’ on a bridge in the evening. The woman was not physically injured but suffered shock, Darmanin said. The man was hit in the back and shoulder and suffered cardiac arrest, Le Parisien newspaper reported, citing police. The attacker then fled and subsequently attacked two other people before being arrested. Police used a stun gun to capture the attacker.

Darmanin said the two injured were a Frenchman aged about 60 and a foreign tourist who was injured with a hammer. According to media reports, it is said to be an Englishman.

The attacker is said to be a Frenchman, born in 1997

According to reports, the attacker is a Frenchman of Iranian descent, born in 1997. Darmanin said that after his arrest, the alleged perpetrator said he could no longer tolerate the deaths of Muslims in both Afghanistan and Palestine. The man believed that France was complicit in the Israeli war in the Gaza Strip and wanted to die as a martyr. According to the information, the arrested man had already been sentenced to four years in prison in 2016 after a failed attack plan.

The man is said to have shouted ‘Allahu Akbar’ (roughly: ‘God is the greatest’) during his arrest, BFMTV and ‘Le Parisien’ report, citing the police. A confession video was also found. According to “Le Parisien”, the alleged perpetrator is said to have pledged allegiance to the terrorist organization Islamic State. He would claim that he is acting to “avenge the Muslims”. (sda/dpa)