MOSCOW, December 21 (Sputnik) — Police in Joue-les-Tours, a suburb of the central French city of Tours have fatally shot a 20-year-old man who stabbed three officers in a rampage at a police station on Saturday, Le Figaro reported.
The kitchen knife-wielding attacker is said to have shouted “Allahu Akbar!” (which means “God is Great” in Arabic) while carrying out his attack before being shot. He shouted the phrase “from the moment he entered until his last breath,” a source close to the case told Agence France-Presse.
The man injured three officers after entering the police station before the police shot him with standard-issue firearms, AFP explained.
The three injured officers have been hospitalized, but are in stable condition.
The Public Prosecutor’s counter-terrorism unit has opened an investigation, citing “attempted murder and criminal conspiracy in connection with a terrorist organization.” Public Prosecutor Jean-Luc Beck told Euronews, “someone who attacks a police station, who doesn’t attack an individual, but clearly attacks police, while shouting ‘Allahu Akbar!’ We have to ask if he was acting alone or on orders."
The Burundi-born French national, whose name has not been released, was said to have had a criminal record for several low-level offenses. He had not been on any French intelligence services’ counterterrorism watchlists, but his brother is said to have been known to security agencies for his plans to travel to Syria, AFP explained.
The attack occurs a month after French Muslims who had joined the Islamic State militant group urged fellow Muslims in France to carry out attacks in the country.
