Two British tourists among seven people injured by rampaging knifeman during game of boules in Paris
TWO British tourists were among seven people yesterday treated for serious injuries in Paris after an Afghan man armed with a knife and an iron bar went on the rampage.
Bystanders playing pétanque, or boules, helped overpower the assailant by throwing heavy metal balls at him after he slashed at strangers on the banks of a canal in the north-east of the capital.
The suspect, who was born in 1987, has been arrested. “Nothing at this stage shows signs of a terrorist nature in these assaults,” said a police source, adding that the attacker had targeted “strangers in the street”.
Of the seven wounded, four are in a serious condition, but not thought to be suffering life-threatening injuries. French media said one of the unidentified Britons, both “in their 50s”, sustained a chest injury while the other was stabbed in the head.
Panic swept along the banks of the Bassin de la Villette, a waterway lined with cafés, cinemas and other cultural venues, at around 11pm on Sunday night. Youssef Najah, 28, a witness, said he saw a man running by the canal with an 11in blade.
“There were around 20 people chasing him. They started throwing pétanque balls at him,” Mr Najah told AFP. The attacker then ducked into an alleyway, where he “tried to hide behind two British tourists. We said to them: ‘Watch out, he has a knife”. But they didn’t react,” said Mr Najah.
Reda Smain, a bystander, managed to disarm the assailant after chasing him with a group of people. Police believe the man may be a drug addict; locals said the nearby area of Stalingrad has a crack problem.
A Foreign Office spokesman said that “two Britons were among the people targeted”. This is the latest of several knife attacks France has suffered in recent months.
♦ French police arrested a man yesterday following a car chase on the runway at Lyon airport after he rammed his car into a terminal and drove through the building.
Police said they began pursuing the Mercedes when it went the wrong way down a nearby motorway. The driver first broke through a security barrier at the Lyon-bron business airport before heading to Lyon’s main Saint-exupéry airport about 12 miles away.