Attack may have been planned in chic apartment
The man suspected of attacking a soldier in Paris’s Louvre museum on Friday has been identified as Abdullah Reda al-Hamamy, a 29-year-old Egyptian born in Dakahlia, a province northeast of Cairo, two security sources said.
Paris was plunged into panic again on Friday night when soldiers guarding the Louvre shot an attacker who lunged at them with two machetes and shouted ‘‘Allahu akbar’’ (God is greatest) as the historic landmark went into lockdown.
The threat appeared to quickly recede after the assailant was subdued, but it cast a new shadow over the city just as tourism is beginning to rebound after a string of deadly attacks. Coming just hours before Paris finalised its bid for the 2024 Olympic Games, it also renewed questions about security in the City of Light.
The soldiers’ quick action put an end to what French President Francois Hollande said was ‘‘no doubt’’ a terrorist attack at one of Paris’s most iconic tourist attractions.
French prosecutor Francois Molins said the assailant was believed to have been living in the United Arab Emirates. He was shot four times and was in a lifethreatening condition in hospital.
Anti-terrorism prosecutors took charge of the investigation as police carried out raids near the tree-lined Champs-Elysees linked to the attack, which came two months after authorities carried out a special anti-terrorism exercise around the Louvre.
Molins said the attacker was not carrying any identity papers, but investigators had used his cellphone and a national database of visa applicants, containing their photos and fingerprints, to determine that he was a resident of the UAE who arrived in Paris on a tourist visa on January 26.
Two days later, the suspect bought two military machetes at a gun store in Paris, the prosecutor said. He also paid €1700 (NZ$2500) for a one-week stay at an apartment in the chic 8th arrondissement of the French capital, near the Champs-Elysees.
In the apartment, police found an Egyptian passport and documents issued by the UAE, Molins said. He said the suspect’s return flight to Dubai was scheduled for tomorrow.
French President Francois Hollande said that while the Louvre incident was quickly contained, the overall terror threat to France remained high.