Daily US Times: French interior minister has said the stabbing in Paris near former Charlie Hebdo office that left two people seriously injured is being treated as a terror attack.
Gérald Darmanin said the stabbing near the former office of satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo was “clearly an act of Islamist terrorism”.
An eighteen-year-old man of Pakistani origin described as the main suspect of the attack was arrested near the scene.
Police said, six other people are in custody and are being questioned.
The victims – a woman and a man who worked at a TV production company – were seriously injured by a machete-type weapon, police said.
Prime Minister Jean Castex told reporters at the scene that their lives were not in danger.
The attack came as a high-profile trial was under way of 14 people accused of helping two jihadists carry out the attack on Charlie Hebdo in 2015, in which 12 people were killed. The magazine has since moved to a secret location.
What do officials say happened?
Mr Darmanin described the stabbing as “a new bloody attack against our country, against journalists”, while speaking with broadcaster France 2.
The interior minister said: “It’s the street where Charlie Hebdo used to be. This is the way the Islamist terrorists operate.”
The minister said he had ordered security to be stepped up around synagogues this weekend for Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar.
The main suspect has not been named yet by the police, but Mr Darmanin said he arrived in the country three years ago “as an isolated minor” of Pakistani nationality.
Mr Darmanin added that the suspect was not known for being radicalised, but had a previous arrest for carrying a screwdriver.
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