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The man arrested after a knife attack on two people in front of the former offices of the satirical newspaper Charlie hebdo told detectives he was angry at the publication of cartoons mocking the prophet Muhammad, French media reported yesterday.
The suspect, who is believed to be an 18-year-old man born in Pakistan, is believed to have arrived in France three years ago as an unaccompanied minor.
“He was not known to be radicalized,” French Interior Minister Gérard Darmanin told France 2 television, adding that the man was not on the country’s security alert list.
“He came to France three years ago as a lonely minor. We are currently verifying her age, ”added Darmanin. “It was clearly an act of terrorism.”
The anti-terrorist police have opened an investigation for “attempted murder as part of a terrorist organization”. The investigation is being carried out by the Paris police and the French security services.
The attack took place in District 11 on Friday, in front of the former offices of Charlie hebdo where terrorist gunmen, brothers Saïd and Chérif Kouachi, killed 12 people in January 2015, in retaliation for the publication of cartoons of the prophet in the newspaper.
In the latest attack, a man carrying a large knife cut off the head of a 28-year-old woman before wounding a 32-year-old man in the face and neck. The victims were on the street smoking at the time and were taken to hospital with what police say were serious but not fatal injuries.
The suspect was arrested about an hour later in front of the Paris Opera at the Bastille. Photos leaked to French media showed a man in gray sweatpants, a fluorescent green T-shirt and red sneakers handcuffed by police. A second man arrested near the scene of the attack was released. Police said they had detained six other men, between 24 and 37 years old, who were part of the “entourage” of the main suspect, for questioning.
the Parisian reported that the alleged attacker lived in Pantin, in the suburb of Seine-Saint-Denis, in the north of Paris. The newspaper said authorities legally contested the age on his identity documents, which indicated he was born in August 2002, believing him to be older, but a magistrate rejected his request for a bone test.
The trial of 14 people suspected of helping armed men carry out attacks against Charlie hebdo and the kosher Hypercacher supermarket, and the murder of a female police officer in 2015 is expected to continue through November.
Darmanin admitted that the authorities had underestimated the risk in the area of the former offices of Charlie hebdo. The newspaper, which republished the contested cartoons to mark the start of the trial, left its offices in District 11 four years ago.
