A terrorist, who murdered a German man and injured two other tourists near the Eiffel Tower in Paris, yelled “Allahu Akbar, Arabic for “God is great,” the BBC reported, citing French Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin.
The attack, which took place on the capital city’s Quai de Grenelle, occurred not far from the landmark tower—mere feet away per some reports, and a 15-minute walk according to others. The killer murdered the German man with a knife, and attacked two others with a hammer.
A 26-year-old man, who was known to French security services and had a history of mental illness, was arrested, Darmanin said.
The suspect told police “he was upset because ‘so many Muslims are dying in Afghanistan and in Palestine’ and was also upset about the Gaza situation,” per the French minister.
The suspect was sentenced to four years in jail in 2016 for planning another attack, the BBC reported.
French President Emmanuel Macron offered condolences, in French, to the family and loved one of the “German national who died this evening during the terrorist attack in Paris” and said his thoughts were with the injured.
“My most sincere thanks to the emergency forces who made it possible to quickly arrest a suspect,” Macron wrote, per a translation. “The national anti-terrorism prosecutor’s office now seized will be responsible for shedding light on this matter so that justice can be done in the name of the French people.”
The mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, quit X publicly in recent days. She did not immediately post about the attack on her other social media accounts.
Earlier in the day, Macron said, “We are at a moment when Israeli authorities must more precisely define their objectives and their final goal: the total destruction of Hamas. Does anyone think it is possible?”
“If this is the case, the war will last 10 years,” he said. “There is no lasting security for Israel in the region if its security is achieved at the cost of Palestinian lives and thus of the resentment of public opinions in the region.”
