France is once again rocked by a suspected Islamist-motivated attack in which a young German tourist was killed near the Eiffel Tower in Paris. Two other people were injured in the attack on Saturday evening. The assassin was able to be overpowered. He was known to the authorities as an Islamist, but also suffered from psychological problems. The anti-terrorism public prosecutor’s office took over the investigation.
The 26-year-old attacker claimed responsibility for the jihadist militia Islamic State (IS) in a video. The perpetrator had contact with other jihadist-motivated attackers, the public prosecutor’s office said on Sunday in Paris. He has already been imprisoned for four years for preparing an attack and has massive psychological problems.
According to Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin, the attack began on Saturday evening around 9 p.m. near the Eiffel Tower. The 26-year-old perpetrator initially attacked the 23-year-old German and his partner with a knife and stabbed the man. Thanks to the courageous intervention of a taxi driver, his companion remained unharmed.
The young man who was killed had both German and Filipino citizenship. The French emergency doctor Patrick Pelloux reported that his companion was in severe shock.
According to Darmanin, the perpetrator fled to the other side of the Seine and attacked two other people with a hammer. A 60-year-old Frenchman was injured and a 66-year-old British tourist suffered shock. Shortly afterwards, the attacker was subdued by police with the help of a Taser. The interior minister reported that he is said to have shouted “Allahu Akbar” (God is great) during the attack.
An eyewitness who was in a bar nearby during the crime said he heard cries for help and saw people running away. A man “with a hammer in his hand” attacked a passer-by, who then fell. After “five to ten minutes” the police arrived.
According to Darmanin, the attacker was already known as an Islamist: He was sentenced to five years in prison in 2016 for planning another attack in the La Défense business district of Paris, of which he served four years. Afterwards he continued to be under legal supervision.
According to investigators, the 26-year-old was born in France to Iranian parents and had French citizenship. He also recently lived with his parents in the greater Paris area. Investigators said the man suffered from psychological problems. He was “very unstable” and “easily influenced” and was treated psychiatrically during and after his imprisonment. The details of his treatment would now be examined in more detail.
After his arrest, the assassin stated that he could no longer bear that Muslims were being killed in “Afghanistan and Palestine.” He accused France of being Israel’s “accomplice” in the Gaza war. At around the same time as his crime, the 26-year-old also published a confessional video on online networks in which he referred to “the current situation, the government, the murder of innocent Muslims.”
Federal Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock (Greens) expressed shock at the fatal knife attack on the young German. Her thoughts are with the young man’s friends and family, and at the same time she wishes the injured a speedy recovery, she said on the online service X (formerly Twitter). She added: “Hate and terror have no place in Europe.”
French President Emmanuel Macron expressed his “condolences” to the relatives of the victim on the online service X. Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne declared on X: “We will not give in to terrorism.” Macron called on Borne to call a security meeting on Sunday afternoon.
Since the major attack by the radical Islamic Hamas on Israel on October 7th and the subsequent massive Israeli shelling of targets in the Gaza Strip, tensions have increased massively in France, with its large Jewish and Muslim population.
France is on the highest attack alert level after a radicalized ex-student stabbed a 57-year-old teacher and injured three other employees at a school in Arras, northern France, on October 13th.
Note: This article has been updated several times.
