One person has died and two police officers were seriously injured in what Emmanuel Macron called an “Islamist terror attack” in eastern France.
The suspect, who authorities said was on a terror prevention watchlist, was arrested in the city of Mulhouse, near the Swiss and German borders, following the knife attack, according to local media.
Three more police officers and one parking attendant were lightly injured in the attack. The French president said he had “no doubt” the attack was terror related.
It occurred in the middle of a market near a demonstration about the conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, according to the local prosecutor.
The suspect, born in Algeria, allegedly shouted “Allahu Akbar” during his stabbing spree, Le Parisien reported.
One victim reportedly died after suffering multiple stab wounds.
One of the seriously wounded police officers sustained an injury to the carotid artery, and the other to the thorax, the local prosecutor said.
A number of police officers were injured in the attack
The suspect was under an order to leave France after being released from a detention centre in June. He had since been under house arrest, Le Parisien added.
The newspaper reported that the attack occurred shortly after the 37-year-old allegedly refused to appear at the Mulhouse national police station.
Michèle Lutz, the mayor of Mulhouse, spoke of the “horror that just swept over our town”.
She said officers who had tried to “neutralise” the attacker were injured in what has been described as a suspected terror attack.
“I extend our feelings to the victims and their loved ones,” Ms Lutz said.
Bruno Retailleau, the interior minister, was expected to travel to the scene of the attack later on Saturday.
The terror watchlist, called FSPRT, compiles data from various authorities on individuals with the aim of preventing “terrorist” radicalisation.
It was launched in 2015 following deadly attacks at the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo’s offices and on a Jewish supermarket.
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