A German tourist has been killed and two others injured in a knife and hammer attack on a street in central Paris.
The attack occurred on Quai de Grenelle, near the Eiffel Tower, shortly before 21:00 local time on December 2.
The attacker, a 26-year-old French national known to security services, has been arrested and anti-terrorism prosecutors have opened an investigation.
Officials confirmed that the man killed was a German national.
France’s Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin said the victim, born in 1997, was with his wife when he was attacked and fatally stabbed.
Darmanin said the wife’s life was saved by the intervention of a taxi driver and that the suspect fled across a nearby bridge spanning the River Seine.
The man then attacked two more people, hitting one in the eye with a hammer, the minister said.
The suspect was then Tasered by police and arrested on suspicion of assassination – defined in French law as pre-meditated murder – and attempted assassination in relation to a terrorist enterprise.
The two people injured – a Frenchman aged around 60 and a foreign tourist – were treated by emergency services, with neither found to be in a life-threatening condition.
A police operation was initiated around the Bir-Hakeim metro station on Saturday night, and authorities urged people to avoid the area.
Darmanin said the alleged attacker was heard shouting “Allahu Akbar”, Arabic for “God is greatest”, and told police he was upset because “so many Muslims are dying in Afghanistan and in Palestine”.
He said the suspect served four years in jail after being convicted for planning another attack in 2016 and was on the French security services watchlist.
The man was also known to have suffered psychiatric disorders, Darmanin said.
Photo AFP
On December 2, a video was posted on social media in which the suspect criticised the French government and discussed what he described as the murder of innocent Muslims, AFP news agency reports.
Writing on X, formerly Twitter, French President Emmanuel Macron sent his thoughts to all those affected by the “terrorist attack” and thanked the emergency services for their response.
“The national anti-terrorist prosecutor’s office will now be responsible for shedding light on this affair so that justice can be done in the name of the French people,” the president said.
The attack comes less than two months after a teacher was killed in a knife attack at a high school in the northern city of Arras, prompting the French government to put the country on its highest level of national security alert.
Police are searching for at least one suspect after a multiple gun attack in the Austrian capital, Vienna, that killed four people.
Seventeen other people were wounded – some seriously – after gunmen opened fire at six different locations in Vienna center on November 2.
According to officials, one attacker was shot dead by police.
Interior Minister Karl Nehammer described the assailant killed by police as an “Islamist terrorist”.
Two of those who died in the shooting were women and two were men. One of the women was reportedly a waitress. The second woman died of her wounds in hospital overnight, reports said.
The victims were in a city center area busy with people in bars and restaurants, near Vienna’s central synagogue, but it is not yet clear if that was the target.
The interior minister advised people to stay away from the center, as police cordoned off some streets and brought in reinforcements. Parents were told to keep their children home on November 3 if they could.
Seven of the wounded have life-threatening injuries, Austrian media report.
Addressing a news conference, Karl Nehammer described the heavily armed gunman killed by police as an ISIS sympathizer. His home had been searched and video material seized, the minister said. He had been wearing a fake explosive belt, police tweeted.
Earlier, the interior minister said at least one “heavily armed and dangerous” attacker was believed to be still at large. Officials were quoted as saying there could have been as many as four attackers.
Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz called it a “repulsive terror attack”. The government called it “an attack on freedom and democracy”.
The attack came hours before Austria imposed new national restrictions to try to stem rising cases of coronavirus. Many people were enjoying drinks and eating out before a midnight curfew.
The government has announced three days of national mourning, starting immediately, with flags to fly at half-mast and a minute’s silence at midday. Schools will also have a minute’s silence for the victims on Wednesday morning.
European leaders strongly condemned the shooting.
The Vienna shooting comes after a spate of Islamist attacks in France.
Police in the neighboring Czech Republic said they were carrying out random checks on the border with Austria in case the gunman fled in that direction.
A 29-year-old man has been killed and other four people wounded in a knife attack in the busy Opéra district of Paris on May 12.
According to witnesses, the suspect had shouted “Allahu Akbar” (God is greatest) before being shot dead by police.
ISIS later said one of its “soldiers” had carried out the attack.
France has been on high alert following a series of attacks in Paris and Lyon. More than 230 people have been killed by ISIS-inspired jihadists in the past three years.
Security forces have identified the attacker as being born in 1997 in the Russian republic of Chechnya, although he was not carrying any identification papers and has not been officially named. Chechnya is a republic in the North Caucasus region of southern Russia.
The republic declared independence in 1991 but Russian troops invaded in 1994 to quash it, sparking a decade-long conflict.
Jihadist groups, including those aligned with ISIS, have long operated in the region.
The judicial source told French media the suspect had no criminal record and that his parents had been held for questioning. Another source told Reuters the suspect was not previously known to police.
The suspect is believed to be a French national.
This is thought to be the first time an assailant of Chechen origin has carried out a terrorist attack in France.
France is home to some 30,000 people of Chechen origin.
France’s Interior Minister Gérard Collomb said the man who died was a 29-year-old passer-by, but gave no further details.
The four who were injured have also not yet been named. AFP news agency, citing sources, said a 34-year-old man and a 54-year-old woman were seriously hurt, while a 26-year-old woman and a 31-year-old man were slightly wounded.
Gérard Collomb said none had life-threatening injuries.
The attacker began stabbing passers-by at about 21:00 local time.
Eyewitnesses described him as a young man with brown hair and a beard, dressed in black tracksuit trousers.
The attacker tried to enter several bars and restaurants but was blocked by people inside.
Police first tried to stop the assailant with a stun-gun before shooting him dead, nine minutes after he began the attack.
At least four people have been killed after a truck has smashed into a store in central Stockholm.
A dozen people were also injured in the incident on Drottninggatan (Queen Street), one of Stockholm‘s major pedestrian streets, on April 7.
Swedish PM Stefan Lofven said it was a terror attack.
One man has been arrested, after Swedish police released a CCTV image of a person who may be connected to the case.
Image source NBC News
In a speech, PM Stefan Lofven said Swedish values of democracy and freedom would not be “undermined by hatred”.
The prime minister also announced Sweden’s border controls had been strengthened.
The crash happened at the Ahlens department store just before 15:00 local time. Witnesses say the truck drove into the front window.
Swedish brewery Spendrups said its truck had been stolen on its way to a restaurant delivery earlier in the day.
“Someone jumped into the driver’s cabin and drove off with the vehicle while the driver was unloading,” a brewery spokesperson told the TT news agency.
The store sits close to Stockholm’s central station, which was evacuated.
The subway, central roads and various bus lines were also shut down after the attack.
Shots were reportedly fired in another part of the city, but Swedish police told local media there was no connection between the two incidents.
Stockholm authorities said they had made several spaces, including a number of school buildings, available as temporary accommodation for those who could not get home because of transport disruptions.
A 17-year-old boy has been arrested in the southern French town of Grasse after two people were hurt in a shooting at a school, sparking a terror alert.
A second suspect was on the run with one French media report suggesting it was an incident between two students.
A video tonight emerged of a man with b****ied hands, carrying knives and ranting “We swear by almighty Allah we will never stop fighting you”, after a serving soldier was ha**ed to death by two men just 200 yards from an Army barracks.
The man can be seen and heard talking to the camera. The video came as terrified eyewitnesses saw two men shot by police marksmen after the machete attack in Woolwich, south-east London.
The two men are thought to have waited around for 20 minutes until Metropolitan Police officers arrived and then tried to attack them – but were swiftly shot by armed policemen, including a woman.
They apparently shouted “Allahu Akbar” (God is great in Arabic), and tried to film the attack, the BBC’s political editor Nick Robinson said.
British Home Secretary Theresa May tonight called a meeting of the Government’s emergency Cobra committee in response to the machete and knife attack on the man who was wearing a Help for Heroes t-shirt.
Theresa May said she had been briefed on the killing by the head of MI5 and police later confirmed they were treating the incident as a possible terror attack.
Meanwhile PM David Cameron cancelled a meeting with French President Francois Hollande to return to London. He said Britain has faced similar terror attacks before and added: “We will never buckle in the face of it.”
Before the dramatic video of the b****ied man was obtained by ITV News, eyewitnesses said the “crazed” men in their 20s launched a ferocious attack and were “ha**ing, ch***ing and cu**ing him”.
In footage released by ITV News, a man with b****ied hands carrying a knife and a machete addresses people holding a camera, where he appears to attempt to justify the incident.
Speaking to those recording the scene he says: “I apologize that women had to witness this today, but in our land our women have to see the same.
“You people will never be safe. Remove your government, they don’t care about you.”
In footage obtained by The Sun, the man can also be heard saying: “You think David Cameron is going to get caught in the street when we start busting our guns you think politicians are going to die?
“No it’s going to be the average guy, like you, and your children. So get rid of them. Tell them to bring our troops back so you can all live in peace.”
Following his outburst, the man walks back towards where the victim is lying in the middle of the road. He then speaks to another man as they stand near to the victim.
Women are later seen bravely tending to the man lying. The footage appears to have been taken before any of the emergency services have arrived at the scene.
Later footage has also emerged from shortly after police fired at two men. One of the men can be seen lying in the road, while the second is laid on the pavement.
The footage taken after the shootings was reported to have been taken by a man who had been on a bus on his way to a job interview.
PM David Cameron said on Twitter that “the killing in Woolwich is truly shocking – I have asked the Home Secretary to chair a Cobra meeting”.
A Buckingham Palace spokesman said: “The Queen is of course concerned by the report of an attack in Woolwich earlier today. Her Majesty is being kept informed.”
The spokesman also confirmed the Queen will visit the King’s Troop Royal Horse Artillery at Woolwich barracks on May 31, which was planned before today’s attack.
This afternoon the area’s MP, Nick Raynsford, told BBC Radio 5 Live he believed the victim, a man aged in his 20s, was a serving soldier.
The man is believed to have been hacked to death after a car crash. The scene of the attack is just 200 yards from Woolwich Barracks.
Man who killed British soldier with a machete in Woolwich
Nick Raynsford said: “We think a serving soldier was the victim. We don’t know the circumstances surrounding the incident. We do know a number of weapons have been seized.
“They include a gun, various knives, and a machete, apparently. The police clearly had to take action in order to try and arrest these individuals.”
The Ministry of Defence said it was urgently looking at the reports that the incident involved a soldier but had no further comment.
Footage from a TV news helicopter showed a large number of weapons lying in the street following the incident. A London Ambulance Service spokesman said one man had died at the scene.
He added: “Our staff treated two others. Both men were taken to hospital, one of them is in a serious condition, the other is not.”
One witness, identified as James, said he and his partner saw two black men attack the young victim with knives, including a meat cleaver.
“They were hacking at this poor guy, literally,” he told LBC.
Metropolitan Police Commander Simon Letchford confirmed tonight that the two attackers were shot by armed officers.
He said in a statement: “At approximately 1420 we were called to reports of an assault in John Wilson Street, Woolwich, where one man was being assaulted by two other men.
“A number of weapons were reportedly being used in the attack and this included reports of a firearm.
“Officers including local Greenwich officers arrived at the scene and shortly after firearms officers arrived on the scene.
“On their arrival at the scene they found a man, who was later pronounced dead. At this early stage I am unable to provide any further information about the man who has died.
“Two men, who we believe from early reports to have been carrying weapons,were shot by police. They were taken to separate London hospitals. They are receiving treatment for their injuries.
“I can understand that this incident will cause community concerns and I would like to reiterate that we are investigating what has taken place today.”
Luke Huseyin, 32, who lives in a block of flats on John Wilson Street, Woolwich, close to where the incident happened said he watched two men murder a man before being shot.
He said: “I was at home and heard a big bang. I looked out of the window and saw a car had crashed.
“It was a blue Vauxhall. Then two black guys got out of the car dragging a white guy across the road towards the wall. One of the guys had a knife that looked about a foot long and a machete and the other bloke had a gun.
“They started slashing him up with the knife and hitting him in the stomach with the machete. I don’t think it took long before he was dead. There were people passing by who were screaming and running away. I’ve never seen anything like it.
“I’m still really shaken up. When he was dead, they dragged him out into the road and left him there. It was strange, they didn’t run off, they just stood there as if they were waiting for the police.
“It must have taken about 20 minutes for the police to arrive, I think it must’ve been because they were waiting for armed police.
“The police officers got out of the car and the two black men ran towards them with the gun.
“The police shot them. They fell to the ground. Then a helicopter landed. Think it must’ve been an air ambulance.
“The paramedics got out and I think they were working on the two men to try and keep them alive.
“I don’t know if they died, they were taken away in the helicopter. A blanket was put over the white guy lying in the road. I just can’t believe what I saw.”
Mother-of-four Julia Wilders, 51, said she was travelling past the scene and saw two men hacking at a man with meat cleavers.
“Graham was driving and we drove past the car which was up against a lamp post.
“There were two black guys that looked like they were trying to resuscitate a white guy on the floor. I thought there’d been an accident.
“But then I saw they were using meat cleavers to hack him up. We live just behind where it happened and once we got back we walked back to have a look and that’s when I saw one of the black guys pull out a handgun.
“My husband screamed at me to get back. I was petrified. As I was running back I saw the police pull up and the black guy was running towards the police car and they shot him.
“I didn’t see anything else, I just run back home.”
David Dixon is the headteacher of Mulgrave Primary School, which is located about 50 metres from the scene of the incident. He saw a body in the road after realizing something was happening and immediately locked down the school.
He said: “It was at the end of our road. As soon as we realized it was serious I went to see what had happened and then told staff to lock down the school and get the children inside. I spoke to police to ask what we should do.
“There seemed to be a body in the middle of the road. The traffic was backed up and the police were on the scene.”
The Boston Marathon bombing on April 15 killed three and injured more than 200, 48 of whom were still in hospital, three in a critical condition, according to Reuters.
At least 14 people lost all or part of a limb and three of them lost more than one.
Doctors say every one of the people injured in the Boston Marathon blasts who made it to a hospital alive now seem likely to survive.
On Saturday estimates of the injured jumped from 180 to 264 as people with delayed health issues arrived at hospital.
Nick Martin, a spokesman for the health commission, explained the sudden jump across 26 hospitals.
The Boston Marathon bombing on April 15 killed three and injured more than 200, 48 of whom were still in hospital, three in a critical condition
“One of the best examples is hearing issues,” Nick Martin said.
“People might have first thought their hearing problems would be temporary.”
Others sought delayed care for minor shrapnel wounds.
The injured include several people who arrived with legs attached by just a little skin, a 3-year-old boy with a head wound and bleeding on the brain, and a little girl riddled with nails.
Even a transit system police officer whose heart had stopped and was close to bleeding to death after a shoot-out with the suspects now appears headed for recovery.
Three people died in the terror attack at the Boston Marathon finish line: Martin Richard, 8, Krystle Campbel, 29, and Lu Lingzi, 23.
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the 19-year-old Chechen terror suspect in Boston Marathon bombings, partied with college friends on Wednesday night and was said to “look relaxed” just two days after the horrific attack.
Hours before the deadly shootout which claimed his brother Tamerlan’s life Dzhokhar A. Tsarnaev was seen on a night out on campus.
A fellow University of Massachusetts student told the Boston Globe: “He was just relaxed.”
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev partied with college friends just two days after Boston Marathon terror attack
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev’s nonchalant attitude – a possible attempt to cover his tracks – in the wake of Monday’s Boston Marathon attack was also witnessed on his Twitter page.
At 5 p.m. on Monday – just hours after he and his older brother, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, were caught on surveillance footage coolly walking away from the bomb site – he tweeted: “Ain’t no love in the heart of the city, stay safe people.”
The next day Dzhokhar replied to a tweet claiming one of the fatalities in the bombings was a woman whose fiancé was proposing to her.
“Fake story” he wrote on the social media website.
The same day the suspect added: “I’m a stress free kind of guy.”
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