May 29, 2013
UPDATE : Large, clear picture face suspect
- Private Cedric Cordier was stabbed in the throat and neck from behind
- Attacked said to be 'inspired' by the savage murder of Drummer Lee Rigby
- Attacker was robed, bearded, in his 30s, of North African origin
The attacker, who has not been caught, was 6ft2in, of North African origin and wore a long, Arab garment called a djellaba. In a copycat of an ambush in London in which a British serviceman was murdered, the attacker struck in front of dozens of passers-by, stabbing his victim in the throat and neck.
Police spokesman Christophe Crepin said: ‘You don’t have to be a great observer to see that people are taking inspiration from what’s happened abroad.’ Politicians also acknowledged the similarities. ‘The sudden violence... could lead one to believe there might be a comparison with what happened in London,’ said interior minister Manuel Valls.
And defence minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said that attack had undoubtedly been an ‘attempt to kill’ the soldier, whose regiment had recently fought in Afghanistan. Read on..
May 25, 2013
A French soldier on patrol in Paris has been stabbed in the throat by a man believed to be of North-African originVVV
The soldier was injured during the attack but will survive, said a military spokesman
LATEST: The soldier was with two colleagues on the patrol in a busy underground space that hosts shops and provides access to several underground train lines.
Hollande: "Don't jump to conclusions"
UPDATE: French authorities are investigating whether the stabbing of a soldier (25) in a Paris suburb was a copycat attack in the wake of the murder of Dummer Lee Rigby, killed in London this week.
"They tried to kill the soldier because he was a soldier," said French Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian.
UPDATE: The attack was being treated as a "terrorist incident", said a source at the Paris prosecutors office.
"The anti-terrorist branch of the prosecutors office is dealing with the matter," the source added.
The soldier from France's Fourth Cavalry regiment, based in Gap in the southern Alps is 25 years old. The police prefect for the Hauts-de-Seine area, said the soldier had lost a considerable amount of blood but would survive, and was being treated in a nearby military hospital.
UPDATE: Hollande in the Ethiopian city of Addis Ababa: "Don't jump to conclusions."
French daily Le Parisien cited police sources as saying the suspected attacker was a bearded man, about 30-years-old and was wearing an Arab-style garment under his jacket. He fled the scene and is being sought by police. The soldier was patrolling the business area of La Defense as part of France's Vigipirate anti-terrorist surveillance plan. He was attacked in the Parisian business district of La Defense, in front of a Virgin store.
The soldier is reported to be from France's Fourth Cavalry regiment, based in Gap in the southern Alps. Colonel Thierry Burkhard, military spokesman, said: "He has been wounded but his life is not in danger." The stabbing comes just days after a British soldier was hacked to death on a London street in broad daylight in a suspected terrorist attack that has raised fears of potential copycat strikes.
However, there was no immediate confirmation of any link to the France attack. This is another 'lone wolf' assault, entirely unrelated to any other of the 20,934 terror attacks since 9/11.