Paris suspect ‘was on radicalism watch list’

‘ATTACKER’ SHOT DEAD BY POLICE

THE young man who stabbed one person to death and injured four others in Paris was on a watch list for potential radicalism.

However, the alleged attacker, a 20-year-old French citizen born in the Russian republic of Chechnya, did not have an arrest record, according to a French judicial official.

He said the parents of the suspect, who was shot dead by police, were still being questioned after being detained at their residence in Paris’ northern 18th district.

A 29-year-old man was killed in the attack near the Paris Garnier Opera house and four people were wounded, including a man from Luxembourg.

Luxembourg’s foreign ministry said its injured citizen was given emergency treatment and is no longer in danger.

Interior minister Gerard Collomb said one of the injured underwent emergency surgery, and two friends were treated in hospital for less serious injuries, but all are out of lifethreatening danger.

The Islamic State group claimed responsibility.

Chechen president Ramzan Kadyrov, who identified the suspect as Khasan Azimov, said France bore responsibility for the attack.

He said he was informed the dead man had received French citizenship and held a Russian passport until he was 14.

Russian news agencies quoted the Chechen leader saying: “He was only born in Chechnya, and his growing up, the formation of his personality, his views and persuasions occurred in French society.”

The Islamic State group’s Aamaq news agency said the assailant carried out the attack in response to the group’s calls for supporters to target members of the US-led military coalition squeezing the extremists out of Iraq and Syria. Aamaq did not provide evidence for its claim.