A suspect has been arrested after killing one person and injuring another in an ambush attack near the Eiffel Tower on Saturday, according to a post by Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin on X. Headline News
Mr Darmanin said: “The police have just courageously arrested an assailant attacking passers-by in Paris, around the Quai de Grenelle.
“One deceased person and one injured person treated by the Paris Fire Brigade. Please avoid the area.”
At the scene, Mr. Darmanin confirmed the man killed was a German tourist.
“A man attacked a couple who were foreign tourists. A German tourist who was born in the Philippines died from the stabbing,” he said, as French anti-terror prosecutors said they would investigate the killing.
The Paris prosecutor’s office said the alleged attacker is French, born in 1997 and has been arrested in an investigation into murder and attempted murder.
“The police have just courageously arrested an assailant attacking passers-by in Paris, around the Quai de Grenelle. One deceased person and one injured person treated by the Paris Fire Brigade. Please avoid the area,” Darmanin posted.
The suspect had already been sentenced in 2016 to “four years in prison” for planning another attack, Mr. Darmanin said.
At the time, he had been arrested by the French national security agency before carrying out the act, the minister added.
On Saturday, he reportedly shouted “Allahu Akbar” (“God is greatest”) before being arrested, French police sources told AFP.
The alleged attacker is known to follow radical Islam and has mental illness, a police source told AFP.
The suspect said he could not stand Muslims being killed in the world, according to a police source.
An investigation is ongoing and police have asked the public to avoid the area.
The British tourist reportedly suffered a head injury on Avenue du President Kennedy after being attacked with a hammer.
He is believed to have been walking with his wife and child when the alleged attacker came up from behind and struck him.
“The family were on the Avenue President Kennedy when they were set upon,” said an investigating source. “A hammer was used to hit the man over the head.”
The Englishman was rushed to hospital, where his condition was later described as “stable”.
A third victim was also badly hurt in a hammer attack, said the source.
A security cordon is currently in place by the incidents as police carry out investigations.
Officers said there was no early indication as to the motive of the stabbing.
