Minister rejects call to resign over killings

PARIS: France’s interior minister rejected opposition calls for his resignation yesterday but acknowledged opportunities had been missed to prevent the killing of four police personnel by a radicalised colleague.

‘‘Obviously there were failings, because three men and a woman have been killed,’’ Christophe Castaner told TF1 television, of a rampage by a man armed with a knife at the main Paris police headquarters last week.

Mickael H, a 45yearold IT specialist with security clearance, killed three officers and one civilian employee before he was shot dead by another officer.

Earlier signs of the Muslim convert’s support for violent extremism have come to light.

Colleagues had flagged comments he made in 2015 celebrating the Islamist attack on satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo, in which 12 people were killed, but no action was taken.

A senior officer had interviewed the colleagues in July 2015 and asked them ‘‘whether they wanted to file an administrative report’’, Castaner said yesterday. ‘‘But they decided not to.’’

He added: ‘‘If at that time there had been a deeper and more effective investigation, I believe we could have avoided this situation.’’

Castaner was appointed last year to the government of President Emmanuel Macron.

Some opposition MPs have accused the Government of playing down missed clues in the immediate aftermath of the killings and said Castaner should resign.

‘‘The question does not even arise,’’ Castaner said.

‘‘We made it clear we weren’t ruling anything out . . . And there was no suggestion of radicalisation in this individual’s administrative file — unfortunately.’’