Paris terrorist attack: details of deadly attack near the Eiffel Tower have emerged

Terrorist attacked tourists with knife and hammer

One person was killed and two others were injured in a terrorist attack in central Paris. Police have arrested a 26-year-old man, who was wanted by French security services, after attacking passers-by near the Eiffel Tower.

As a result of the terrorist attack in the French capital, one German citizen was killed and two more tourists were injured that did not pose a threat to life. It happened after a man attacked tourists in central Paris near the Eiffel Tower, France’s interior minister said on Saturday.

Police quickly arrested the 26-year-old man, a French citizen, using a stun gun, Gerald Darmanin told reporters.

The suspect was on the watch list of the French security services and had a history of mental illness, the interior minister added.

According to Reuters, the attack happened on Saturday around 7 pm GMT when a man attacked a tourist couple with a knife on the Quai Grenelle, just feet from the Eiffel Tower, fatally wounding a German citizen born in the Philippines. He was then chased by police and attacked two other people with a hammer before being arrested.

The suspect shouted “Allahu Akbar” and told police he was upset because “so many Muslims are dying in Afghanistan and Palestine” and was also worried about the situation in Gaza, Minister Darmanen said.

The investigation has been entrusted to the anti-terrorism prosecutor’s office, AFP reported.

Addressing reporters, Interior Minister Darmanen said that the suspect was born in France in 1997 and was sentenced to four years in prison back in 2016 for planning “violent actions.”

The intelligence services knew that the suspect suffered from “serious mental disorders,” the minister added.

French President Emmanuel Macron called the incident a terrorist attack and said France’s anti-terrorism prosecutor’s office would conduct an investigation. “I express all my condolences to the family and loved ones of the German citizen who passed away this evening,” Macron wrote in a post on X early Sunday morning.

He also thanked the French emergency services.

“The National Anti-Terrorism Prosecutor’s Office will now be responsible for shedding light on this case so that justice can be done on behalf of the French people,” Macron wrote.

Video footage taken at the scene showed police cars, ambulances and the Paris fire brigade arriving as heavy traffic was blocked. Numerous cordons were also installed.

Members of the public were advised to avoid the area.