Arrests made over Paris knife attacks

PARIS: Police investigating a deadly knife attack last week near the Paris Opera have arrested two young women, the country’s chief antiterrorism prosecutor, Francois Molins, says.

The two were close to Khamzat Azimov, the 20yearold perpetrator of the attack who was shot dead by police at the scene, as well as a friend of Azimov’s who was arrested in Strasbourg on Sunday, Molins said.

Azimov’s friend, named as Abdoul Hakim A. and also aged 20, was charged with ‘‘terrorist conspiracy to commit attacks on people’’ and remanded in detention yesterday, AFP reported.

The friend, who like Azimov had Russian and French citizenship, has denied any involvement in the incident, Molins said.

On Saturday, Azimov killed one 29yearold passerby and injured five others in a series of knife attacks within a few minutes in a network of side streets where there are many bars and restaurants.

Molins said that a claim of responsibility by the Islamic State extremist group had been verified. Azimov’s parents had also formally identified him in a video in which he declared his allegiance to IS leader Abu Bakr alBaghdadi, Molins said.

Molins said that Azimov had been on an antiterror watchlist since 2016 because of his Islamist links, and especially his friendship with Abdoul Hakim A.

Azimov’s parents described him as a shy student who prayed only intermittently, Molins said. He was studying to be a nurse after failing the first year of a medicine degree.

His family, originally from the Russian republic of Chechnya, had come to France in 2004 and had gained refugee status.

Molins said Abdoul Hakim A.’s family were also originally from Russia and had arrived in France in 2005.

Neither man had a criminal record.