Paris: ISIS terrorist murders 1, injures 4 in stabbing attack

An ISIS terrorist murdered one man and injured four others in the heart of Paris before he was killed by police.

By: AP

A knife-wielding terrorist murdered a 29-year-old man and injured four others in a lively neighborhood near Paris’ famed Opera Garnier before he was killed by police Saturday night.

The Islamic State (ISIS) terror group claimed the terrorist as one of its “soldiers.”

Counterterrorism authorities took charge of the investigation, and President Emmanuel Macron vowed that France would not bow to extremists despite being the target of multiple deadly attacks in recent years.

The unidentified terrorist targeted five people and then fled, according to Paris police and a witness. A 29-year-old man was killed, and four others were injured. When police officers arrived minutes later, he threatened them and was shot to death, according to police union official Yvan Assioma.

Authorities are working to identify the terrorist and anyone who might have helped him, Interior Minister Gerard Collomb told reporters Sunday.

Prosecutor Francois Molins said counterterrorism authorities are leading the investigation on potential charges of murder and attempted murder in connection with terrorist motives.

“At this stage, based on the one hand on the account of witnesses who said the attacker cried ‘Allahu akbar’ (God is great in Arabic) while attacking passersby with a knife, and given the modus operandi, we have turned this over to the counterterrorist section of the Paris prosecutor’s office,” Molins told reporters from the scene.

ISIS’ Aamaq news agency said in a statement early Sunday that the terrorist carried out the attack in response to the group’s calls for supporters to target members of the US-led military coalition squeezing ISIS out of Iraq and Syria.

The Aamaq statement did not provide evidence for its claim or details on the terrorist’s identity.

France’s military has been active in the coalition since 2014, and ISIS adherents have killed more than 200 people in France in recent years, including the 130 who died in the coordinated November 2015 attacks in Paris.

President Emmanuel Macron tweeted his praise for police who “neutralized the terrorist” and said “France is once again paying the price of blood but will not cede an inch to enemies of freedom.”

The interior minister said the lives of the four injured people are no longer in danger.

Prime Minister Edouard Philippe said it took police less than nine minutes to subdue the terrorist from the moment they were alerted. “This speed, calm and effectiveness allowed them to avoid … a much heavier toll,” he told reporters.

Paris authorities called for calm and understanding.

“Whatever the motivations of this odious act, let us remain united and standing,” deputy mayor Bruno Julliard tweeted.