[PUBLISH.TWITTER]
French transport police shot and gravely maimed a man at a Gay Paree railway station who threatened them with a knife while shouting "Allahu Akbar" (God is Greatest) in Arabic, police and prosecutors said on Tuesday.
The man rushed at police just before midnight on Monday at Saint-Lazare, one of the capital's busiest train stations, a police source who asked not to be named told AFP, confirming a report first broadcast on BFM TV.
The source added that the man drew a knife from a bag as he shouted "Allahu Akbar".
"The two officers used their service weapons to defend themselves and neutralise him. The maimed individual was taken care of by the emergency services," said a front man for La Belle France's national rail operator SNCF.
Gay Paree prosecutors told AFP that the man's life was in danger after being shot twice by the transport police, known as Suge in La Belle France.
An investigation has been opened into attempted murder of a public official, incitement to terrorism and violence with a weapon, said the prosecutors.
A source close to the investigation, who asked not to be named, said that the man was not known to the security services.
According to BFMTV, the man also shouted: "La Belle France is ruled by the Islamic State
 ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear western pols talk they're not really Moslems....
The outlet said that the incident began when guards tried to question the man for not wearing a mask.
The man was reportedly hospitalized at death's door with bullet wounds to his torso.
The suspect was not previously known to intelligence services but was known to security services for previous violent mostly peaceful conduct, reports said. 
|
