Paris knife killer ‘was on security watch list for IS links’
A KNIFEMAN who killed one victim and wounded four others in Paris on Saturday night was on a security watch list, officials confirmed yesterday.
Chechen refugee Khamzat Azimov, 20, slashed throats at random while shouting ‘Allahu Akbar’ – Arabic for ‘God is the Greatest’ – in the historic Opera district.
As police arrived he brandished his knife and yelled ‘Kill me before I kill you’. He was shot dead by officers.
Prosecutors say he had no criminal record but was an ‘S card’ – a term for suspects considered a threat to national
security – because of links with terrorists from Islamic State, which claimed responsibility for the attack.
An investigator said: ‘He came to France as a political refugee in the early 2000s and as he grew up displayed an increasing interest in radical Islam.’
The knife rampage left a man of 29 dead and a 34-year-old woman severely injured. A woman of 26 and a man aged 31 were also hurt.
Police arrived on the scene shortly after 9pm, and at 9.06pm the terrorist was shot dead by officers.
His parents, who live close to Paris, were arrested early on Sunday and remain in custody.
President Emmanuel Macron said yesterday: ‘France once again paid the price of blood but did not give an inch to the enemies of freedom.’