Paris stabbing suspect targeted Charlie Hebdo, official says

Updated 12 hours ago

THE SUSPICIOUS CHIEF in a double stabbing in Paris told investigators he carried out the attack in anger over the cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad recently republished by the satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo, a judicial official said.

Two people were injured and seven are in custody after Friday’s butcher knife attack in front of the newspaper’s former offices in eastern Paris, which counter-terrorism authorities are investigating as an Islamic extremist attack.

Charlie Hebdo lost 12 employees in an al Qaeda attack in 2015 by French-born extremists who had criticized cartoons of the prophet.

The newspaper, which routinely mocks religious figures of all stripes, decided to republish the cartoons the day before the trial for the 2015 attacks began earlier this month. The publication generated threats from militant groups, as well as criticism from Muslims in several countries.

When questioned by investigators, the main suspect acknowledged carrying out the attack and said he was seeking to target Charlie Hebdo for the cartoons, according to an official close to the investigation.

The suspect had been arrested a month ago for carrying a screwdriver but was not on the police radar for Islamic radicalization, Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said. He said the screwdriver was considered a weapon, but did not explain why.

The suspect arrived in France three years ago as an unaccompanied minor, apparently from Pakistan, but his identity is still being verified, the minister said.

From the left, the mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, the anti-terrorist state prosecutor Jean-Francois Ricard and the interior minister, Gerald Darmanin.

Source: AP / PA Images

Police officers gather in the area of ​​a knife attack near the former offices of the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo

Source: Thibault Camus via PA Images

Seven others were detained in the wake of Friday’s attack, but one was released, the official said. Five of the detainees were detained in the Paris suburb of Pantin at a residence where the suspect is believed to have lived.

The two people injured in Friday’s attack were a woman and a man who worked at the documentary production company Premieres Lignes and who had gone out to smoke. The company’s co-founder, Luc Hermann, told France-Info broadcaster that they were staying in hospital, but their condition was “reassuring.”

Prime Minister Jean Castex, visiting the Paris police headquarters on Saturday, pledged to intensify the fight against terrorism, saying: “The enemies of the republic will not win.”

The interior minister admitted that security was lacking on the street where Charlie Hebdo was once based, and ordered special protection for all “symbolic sites,” highlighting in particular Jewish sites around the Yom Kippur holiday this weekend. .

A Jewish grocery store was attacked days after the Charlie Hebdo newsroom massacre, in what authorities say were coordinated attacks.

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