Third man held for France knife attack

PARIS: French police have arrested a third suspect, another Sudanese national, in an expanding terror probe after a knife attack in the country’s southeast left two people dead, investigators said on Sunday.

The attack in broad daylight Saturday in the riverside town of Romans-sur-isere, took place with the country on lockdown to stem the spread of the deadly coronavirus.

Prosecutors have launched an investigation into “murder linked to a terrorist enterprise” and “association with terrorist wrongdoers” after the rampage through a string of shops in the town with a population of 35,000.

The alleged assailant, identified as Abdallah Ahmed-osman -- a Sudanese refugee in his 30s who lives in the town -- was arrested without a fight.

Police later arrested a second Sudanese man at Ahmed-osman’s home -- “an acquaintance” of the alleged attacker -and on Saturday night “a young Sudanese man from the same household” as the main suspect, the anti-terror prosecutor’s office told AFP on Sunday.

Ahmed-osman was found by police “on his knees on the pavement praying in Arabic” after attack, said the national anti-terror prosecutor’s office. According to witnesses cited by local radio station France Bleu Drome Ardeche, the attacker shouted “Allah Akbar!” (God is Greatest) as he stabbed his victims.

“Anyone who had the misfortune to find themselves in his way were attacked,” the town’s mayor Marie-helene Thoraval said.