Louvre attacker refusing to talk to police

THE suspected Louvre Museum attacker refused to talk to French police during two rounds of questioning on Sunday, a judicial source said.

The man, believed to be an Egyptian national, was shot in the stomach and seriously wounded after lunging at soldiers with two machetes on Friday.

The attack was the latest in a string of assaults in France and thrust the issue of security back into the headlines three months ahead of the presidential election.

Investigators questioned him twice at his hospital bed, where he is receiving treatment after his condition improved but he “still refuses to speak”, the judicial source said.

The suspect has been held at a Paris hospital since the attack near the museum on Friday morning.

Based on his phone and visa records, he is thought to be Abdallah El-Hamahmy, a 29-year-old Egyptian living in the United Arab Emirates, who entered France legally on a flight from Dubai on January 26.

Investigators believe Hamahmy rented an expensive apartment near the Champs Elysees avenue.

The accommodation, which cost 1,700 ($1,830) a month, was booked online in June, a source close to the investigation said.

Investigators say the attacker, who was carrying two machetes and wearing a black T-shirt with a skull design, lunged at four soldiers shouting “Allahu Akbar” (“God is greatest”).

President François Hollande said that “there is little doubt as to the terrorist nature of this act”.