Knife and hammer attack leaves one dead and two injured in Paris

French police have arrested a man suspected of killing one person and injuring two others in a knife and hammer attack in central Paris.

The attack took place in Bir Hakeim, near the Eiffel Tower, French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin told reporters at the scene on Saturday night (2).

He said the man arrested was a French national previously known to intelligence services.

One man – a German tourist born in the Philippines – was killed in the attack and two others suffered non-life-threatening injuries, it added.

One of the officers who responded to the scene used a Taser to neutralize the attacker, Darmanin said. The suspect’s life is not at risk, he added.

“After his arrest, he said he could no longer bear to see Muslims dying in both Afghanistan and Palestine,” Darmanin said.

Known to intelligence services

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

The suspect was known to intelligence services to have “severe psychiatric disorders,” Darmanin added.

The minister said the police told him that the attacker had shouted “Allahu Akbar” during the attack.

French President Emmanuel Macron called the incident a terrorist attack and said France’s anti-terrorism prosecutor’s office would investigate.

“I send all my condolences to the family and loved ones of the German citizen who died tonight”, wrote Macron in a post on platform X in the early hours of this Sunday (3).

He also thanked the French emergency services.

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

Videos taken at the scene showed police cars, ambulances and the Paris Fire Department arriving, with heavy traffic being diverted. Several cordons were also set up.

The public was advised to avoid the area.