May 14 (UPI) — The knife-wielding man who killed one and wounded four others in a suspected terror attack in Paris was identified Sunday as a French national born in southwest Russia.
The attacker was born in 1997 in Russia’s Chechnya region, sources told CNN and France 24.
The assailant, shouting “Allahu akbar” in Arabic — which is “God is good” in English — was shot dead by police in central Paris late Saturday after he attacked people near the city’s main opera house.
The suspect has not been named, but he reportedly was on an anti-terror watch list of suspected extremists, although he did not have a criminal record. The mother and father of the attacker as well as a friend are in police custody for questioning.
The Islamic State has claimed responsibility but provided no corroborating proof on the assertion.
The terrorist group has recruited radicals from North Caucasus, a semi-autonomous region of Russia that has been in conflict with Moscow since declaring independence in 1991.
One man identified only as Milan, 19, told France 24 that “several people in distress” included a woman with wounds to her neck and leg.
“Firemen were giving her first aid. I heard two, three shots and a policeman told me that the man had been overpowered,” he said.
Two of the people were originally reported in grave condition, but Interior Minister Gérard Collomb later told reporters all the victims were recovering.
“I have just seen the person who was most seriously injured, she is better,” he said.
