A knifeman has killed one person and seriously injured two police officers in an attack in a French market town, whilst shouting ‘Allahu Akbhar’, local authorities have said.
Three more officers were lightly wounded after a bloodbath unfolded at a market in the eastern city of Mulhouse, on the border of Germany, on Saturday afternoon.
The 37-year-old suspect was on a terror prevention watchlist, called FSPRT, prosecutor Nicolas Heitz said, and has since been arrested.
France’s national anti-terror prosecutors unit (PNAT), who are leading the probe, said the suspect first attacked police officers, shouting ‘Allahu Akbar’ (God is greatest).
Witnesses confirmed the assailant was heard shouting the words – which are used by Muslims as an exclamation of their faith – several times.
A civilian passer-by who intervened was fatally injured, the PNAT have confirmed. According to Mulhouse prosecutors, he was a 69-year-old Portuguese national.
French President Macron has since there was ‘no doubt’ that the incident was ‘a terrorist act’, specifically ‘an Islamist terrorist act’.
He added that the government was determined to continue doing ‘everything to eradicate terrorism on our soil’.
A police officer has died and others have been injured in a suspected knife terror attack in France
The bloodbath unfolded at a market in the eastern city of Mulhouse, on the border of Germany, on Saturday afternoon
Witnesses reported hearing the the cry ‘Allahu Akbar’ – Arabic for ‘God is the Greatest’ (Pictured: Police and firefighters at the scene today)
Further images showing police and firefighters arriving to the scene in Mulhouse, which is on the French-German border
One seriously wounded police officers sustained an injury to the carotid artery, and the other to the thorax, Mr Heitz said.
The arrested man was on a file containing suspects said to have been ‘radicalised as terrorists,’ said Mr Heitz.
The suspect, born in Algeria, has been under judicial supervision and house arrest, and under an expulsion order from France, according to union sources.
The attack unfolded by the Market Square in the middle of Mulhouse, when it was packed with shoppers.
Photos show firefighters and police descending on the scene in the picturesque city centre after the assailant reportedly attacked several people.
Police established a security parameter after the attack that happened shortly before 4:00 pm (local time) during a demonstration.
Military units were sent to the scene as backup and forensic scientists searched for evidence.
Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau is expected to travel to the scene of the horror attack later today.
‘The man was attending a police station to sign his judicial control form connected with his house arrest,’ said an investigating source.
‘He refused to do this, and instead attacked a number of people with a knife. Those hurt included at least five municipal police officers.’
The man was arrested at the scene, at around 4pm, and was confirmed as being on an anti-terrorist watch list by Nicolas Heitz, the Mulhouse prosecutor.
All of those killed and wounded were police officers, added Mr Heitz. The deceased officer had been stabbed in the throat, as had another, who was in intensive care.
Police collecting evidence at the scene of the attack where a man is suspected of killing on e person and wounding several people
Police were among those slashed repeatedly by the man – an Algerian aged 37 who was on a terrorist watch list and faced deportation
The Mayor of Mulhouse, Michèle Lutz, issued a statement via Facebook following the incident, writing: ‘Horror had griped our city.’
She added: ‘On behalf of the city of Mulhouse, I extend our brotherly feelings to the victims and their loved ones.’
It came only a day after a Spanish tourist was stabbed at Berlin’s Holocaust memorial by a 19-year-old Syrian refugee.
The attack was launched a day before Germany’s national election in which concerns over migration are expected to boost the far-right AfD party.
A week earlier, a 14-year-old boy was stabbed to death and five others people wounded by a Syrian asylum seeker who was detained at the scene in Villach, a town near the border with Italy and Slovenia.
An area cordoned off to the public as a French local police officer investigates the scene
‘The man was attending a police station to sign his judicial control form connected with his house arrest,’ said an investigating source
Police officers standing guard at the scene of the suspected terror knife attack this afternoon
Yesterday’s attack in France follows a series of bomb, gun and knife attacks carried out by Islamic State and al-Qaeda operatives.
The deadliest single terrorist attack ever in the country came in November 2015 when 130 people were killed during one night in Paris.
Suicide bombers pledging allegiance to ISIS targeted the Stade de France, cafés, restaurants and the Bataclan music venue, where 90 died.
Earlier in the year, two Paris-born gunmen linked to Al-Qaeda broke into the offices of the Charlie Hebdo satirical magazine, leaving 17 people dead inside and three outside.
In July 2016, 86 people were called and more than 400 injured when a 19 tonne truck was deliberately driven into crowds on the seafront promenade at Nice, on the Mediterranean coast.
During the same month, two Isis terrorists murdered an 86-year-old Catholic priest during a church service in Normandy.
And in October 2020, three people were stabbed to death by a Tunisian immigrant in the Notre Dame basilica in Nice.
There have been frequent knife attacks on the forces of law and order, leading to the deaths of serving police.
Terrorists have also targetted teachers, such as Samuel Paty, who was decapitated in the greater Paris suburb of Conflans-Sainte-Honorine in 2020.
MailOnline has approached France’s Interior Ministry for comment.