RAMBOUILLET – French investigators today questioned three people linked to a Tunisian man who stabbed a police employee to death near Paris in a suspected Islamist attack.
The murder at a police station in Rambouillet, a commuter town about 60 km from Paris, revived the trauma of a spate of deadly attacks last year.
The victim was a 49-year-old woman named as Stephanie M., a police administrative assistant and mother-of-two, who was stabbed twice in the throat at the entrance of the station.
Her 36-year-old attacker named as Jamel G., who had not been known to police or intelligence services, was shot and fatally wounded by an officer at the scene.
President Emmanuel Macron, who was out of the country on a visit to Chad, tweeted that France would never give in to “Islamist terrorism”.
The latest violence targeting police is likely to focus attention further on the danger of Islamic extremism in France and wider concerns about security a year ahead of a presidential election.
Prime Minister Jean Castex said he would hold a meeting in Paris with ministers and security officials after the killing.
National anti-terrorism prosecutors have opened an investigation.
A source close to the inquiry told AFP the knifeman shouted “Allahu Akbar” (God is Greatest) during the attack.
Chief anti-terror prosecutor Jean-Francois Ricard confirmed “comments made by the assailant” indicated a terror motive.
Security stepped up
Jamel G’s father and two other people were taken into custody yesterday, and questioning continued through to today as police delved into his background, contacts and possible motives.
The assailant was an undocumented migrant to France in 2009 and since obtained residency papers, a police source said. He had just moved to Rambouillet.
About 30 police officers wearing balaclavas raided the suspect’s home in Rambouillet on Friday, AFP reporters said.
At the same time police in the Paris region searched the home of the person who had sheltered Jamel G. when he first arrived in France, sources close to the inquiry said.
Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin, who also visited officers in Rambouillet, said security would be stepped up at stations nationwide.
France has been repeatedly targeted by Islamist attackers since 2015, with a series of incidents in the last year keeping terrorism and security as a leading concern.
Macron’s government has introduced legislation to tackle religious extremism, which would make it easier for the government to close places of worship and track foreign funding of mosques.
The bill has been condemned by critics who see it as stigmatising Muslims. – AFP, April 24, 2021
