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Egypt IDs machete suspect as Louvre reopens after attack
PARIS — The Louvre Museum reopened to the public Saturday, less than 24 hours after a machetewielding assailant shouting “Allahu akbar!” attacked French soldiers guarding the sprawling building and was shot by them.
The worldwide draw of the iconic museum in central Paris, host to thousands of works of art, was on full display on a drizzly winter day as tourists filed by police and soldiers patrolling outside the site, which had been closed after Friday’s attack.
The attacker was shot four times after slightly injuring a soldier patrolling the nearby underground mall but his injuries Saturday were no longer lifethreatening, the Paris prosecutor’s office said.
French President Francois Hollande said there is “no doubt” the suspect’s actions were a terror attack, and he will be questioned as soon as possible.
An Egyptian Interior Ministry official confirmed Saturday that the attacker is Egyptian-born Abdullah Reda Refaie al-Hamahmy, 28.
The official said an initial investigation in Egypt found no record of political activism, criminal activity or membership in any militant group by him.
The suspect was believed to have been living in the United Arab Emirates and came to Paris on Jan. 26 on a tourist visa, prosecutor Francois Molins said.
Al-Hamahmy’s father, Reda Refae al-Hamahmy, said on the Dubai-based news channel al-Hadath that he was shocked to learn of his son’s alleged involvement in the Paris attack and denied that his son was a radical or belonged to a militant group.
“This is all a scenario made up by the French government to justify the soldiers opening fire,” he said. The father said alHamahmy is married with a 7-month-old child.