A man armed with a knife was shot dead by security forces Thursday after attempting to enter a police station in northern Paris. An anti-terrorism inquiry has been opened into the incident, Paris prosecutors said, reports FRANCE 24.
The incident took place at around 11:30am outside a police station in the Goutte-d'Or area of the French capital’s 18th arrondissement (district).
A witness who was around 50 metres from the police station told FRANCE 24 that he clearly heard the man cry, "Allahu Akbar" (God is great). Police said the man was wearing a fake explosives belt.
Investigators have matched the man's fingerprints with those on file for a convicted thief, a homeless man who identified himself at the time as Sallah Ali, born in the Moroccan city of Casablanca in 1995.
Paris prosecutors said a terrorism investigation had been opened, adding that the man was carrying a butcher’s knife as well as a piece of paper on which the flag of the Islamic State (IS) group was printed along with a claim of responsibility written in Arabic.
According to French daily Le Parisien, quoting a source close to the investigation, the piece of paper stated that the attack was “revenge for the killings in Syria”.
Pictures posted on Twitter showed the alleged assailant wearing a camouflage coat, lying on the pavement after being killed. A police bomb disposal robot appeared to be inspecting the body.