Paris knife attack near former Charlie Hebdo office declared act of terrorism

Two people were seriously wounded in a knife attack in central Paris near the former offices of satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo on Friday, police said.

French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said Friday evening that the attack was “clearly an act of Islamist terrorism.”

“It’s the street where Charlie Hebdo used to be, this is the way the Islamist terrorists operate,” Darmanin told broadcaster France 2. “This is a new bloody attack on our country.”

Police said they arrested the man suspected of stabbing the two victims soon after the attack. He was found with bloodstains on his clothes near the Bastille plaza close to the crime scene in eastern Paris.

Hours later, another suspect was apprehended near the Richard-Lenoir metro station, also in the area of the crime scene.

A judicial source told France’s AFP news agency that anti-terrorism investigators had detained five additional men while searching the home of the main suspect.

The weapon used in the attack was described by witnesses as a meat cleaver. It was found at the scene, police said.

The head of France’s anti-terrorism prosecution office, Jean-Francois Ricard, said the “main perpetrator” is an 18-year-old man of Pakistani origin.

Read more via France 24/AFP