A fatality, two seriously injured and three lightly injured – this is the preliminary toll of a knife attack in the French city of Mulhouse, located in the southern Alsace region near the French-German and French-Swiss borders.
French media, such as Le Parisien and Le Figaro, report, citing the prosecution, that the 37-year-old Algerian, according to eyewitnesses, shouted “Allahu akbar” (“God is the Greatest”) in Arabic as he attacked participants and passersby in the city center of Mulhouse during a demonstration for the Congo. He allegedly was on a terror watchlist and faced the threat of deportation.
The incident occurred just before 4 p.m. local time. According to France Info, the attacker targeted municipal police, who were on the street near the rally and the perpetrator was still at the crime scene when arrested.
The deceased is a 69-year-old Portuguese man. Two of the injured are reportedly police officers or municipal employees.
“The shock has just struck our city” said the city’s mayor, Michèle Lutz, in a Facebook post, expressing “brotherly feelings” to the victims and their families. French President Emmanuel Macron spoke in the evening of an “islamist terrorist attack” with “no doubt” about it.