French police kill a radicalised man who threatened officers at the Arc de Triomphe, with the national anti-terrorism prosecutor’s office investigating the attack.
PARIS: French police shot and killed a knife-wielding man under the Arc de Triomphe on Friday after he threatened officers during a ceremony.
The incident occurred as officers were on honour guard duty for the daily ritual to rekindle the flame at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.
One officer sustained slight wounds from a knife blow before another opened fire on the attacker, who was also carrying scissors.
The suspect, identified as French citizen Brahim Bahrir, died of his wounds after being taken to hospital.
A source close to the case said Bahrir was known to authorities as radicalised and had been placed on a watchlist.
The same source said he had called a police station earlier to say he was going to “carry out a massacre”, prompting a hunt.
France’s national anti-terrorism prosecutor’s office has taken over the investigation.
The office confirmed the suspect had previously been sentenced to 17 years in prison in Belgium for attacking three police officers there in 2012.
He had been convicted on attempted murder, terror and other charges and left prison only in December.
President Emmanuel Macron praised the paramilitary gendarmes who he said had “intervened forcefully to stop this terrorist attack”.
Police cordoned off the monument at the top of the bustling Champs-Elysees avenue following the attack.
