FRANCE: Police suggest that the stabbing of a French soldier patrolling a business neighbourhood west of Paris could easily be linked to the violent killing of a British soldier in London three days ago

Record ID: 353859

  • Title: FRANCE: Police suggest that the stabbing of a French soldier patrolling a business neighbourhood west of Paris could easily be linked to the violent killing of a British soldier in London three days ago
  • Date: 25th May 2013
  • Summary: PARIS, FRANCE (MAY 25, 2013) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF POLICE AT CORDONED OFF CRIME SCENE POLICE UNION SPOKESMAN, CHRISTOPHE CREPIN, BEING INTERVIEWED (SOUNDBITE) (French) POLICE UNION SPOKESMAN, CHRISTOPHE CREPIN, SAYING: "We know that he is tall, athletic, we think he was wearing a white tunic and sneakers. Things are evolving, in any case everything has been recorded on
  • Embargoed: 9th June 2013 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: France
  • Country: France
  • Topics: Crime
  • Reuters ID: LVA3K7AV3FDL9PRGWCK3CNM8BPGV
  • Story Text: A French soldier patrolling a business neighbourhood west of Paris was stabbed in the neck and injured on Saturday (May 25) by a man who fled the scene and is being sought by police.
    The 23-year-old was patrolling in uniform with two other soldiers as part of France's Vigipirate anti-terror surveillance plan when he was approached from behind around 6 p.m. (1600GMT) and attacked with a knife or a box-cutter.
    French President Francois Hollande, in the Ethiopian city of Addis Ababa, said police were hunting the attacker but did not provide any details about his identity or any possible motivation for the attack.
    Police union spokesman Christophe Crepin said surveillance footage of the attacker showed him as tall and bearded, aged about 35, possibly of North African origin and wearing a white Arab-style tunic.
    "We know that he is tall, athletic, we think he was wearing a white tunic and sneakers. Things are evolving, in any case everything has been recorded on video and we will find him," Crepin said.
    Three days after a British soldier was killed in a London street by two men who said they acted to avenge violence against Muslims, the attack near Paris raised questions about a possible copycat attempt to kill a French soldier.
    "You don't have to be a great observer to be able to see the similarity. We are in a place... a soldier, an individual who comes to stab, you don't have to be a great observer to see that people are taking inspiration from acts committed abroad, to reproduce them here," Crepin added Interior Minister Manuel Valls noted the similarity in an interview on France 2 TV, saying the attacker was clearly trying to murder his victim, but he added that it was too early to offer any theories.
    Pierre-Andre Peyvel, police prefect for the Hauts-de-Seine area west of Paris, said the soldier had lost a considerable amount of blood but would survive, and was being treated in a nearby military hospital.
    He was not named.
    Witnesses near the commuter train station where the attack occurred gave conflicting descriptions of the fleeing suspect.
    One asserted on TV that he saw two men fleeing, while another said the scene was too confused to tell.
    Peyvel declined to confirm or deny any description and said further details would be forthcoming.
    A source said police would broadcast the man's likeness if no arrest was made soon.
    France is on high alert for attacks by Islamist militants following its military intervention in Mali in January, which prompted threats against French interests from AQIM, the North African wing of al Qaeda.
    The latest warning was published on Youtube a few weeks before armed gunmen this week attacked a military base and uranium extraction site in the central African state of Niger, killing 24 soldiers and one civilian.
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