Man stabs three women in Paris, says ‘Allah commanded me’
Paris: Three people were injured in a knife attack in Paris, and a male suspect was arrested.
The attack occurred at around 11:30 a.m. on Monday (local time) in northwestern Paris, where a man armed with two kitchen knives attacked passersby on the street. The victims received medical treatment, with two of them in critical condition, reports Xinhua news agency, citing French media reports.
The suspect was apprehended at the scene by an off-duty police officer. He had provided “only a self-reported identity” and was making “incoherent statements,” French Interior Minister Laurent Nunez told the media.
Nunez urged “great caution regarding the motives behind this extremely violent act.”
France’s National Anti-Terrorism Prosecutor’s Office (PNAT) is monitoring the situation, according to media reports.
Several videos of the incident have been circulating on social media.
One video captured the suspect making a religious statement as he was being restrained.
“It is Allah who commanded me,” the accused, lying on the floor, was heard saying in the video.
This came just a day after another Islamic radical attack in Germany on Saturday, which left one woman dead and 29 others injured.
On Saturday evening, a van was driven into a crowd near Berlin’s Tiergarten park. The driver then attacked passersby with a weapon believed to be a machete, leaving one woman dead and 29 others injured. The incident occurred near the site of the city’s Christopher Street Day pride parade.
The suspect in the vehicle ramming and stabbing attack in Berlin was shot dead by police on Sunday evening, local police said in a statement.
Police said the suspect was located at around 6:00 p.m. (1600 GMT) in the Spandau district of Berlin. Preliminary findings indicated that the suspect ran toward police officers with a stabbing weapon, prompting officers to open fire.
Earlier on Sunday, German Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt said that the incident was suspected to be an “Islamist terrorist attack.”