4 people were in custody Sunday after a deadly stabbing in eastern France that authorities linked to Islamic extremism, based on the national anti-terrorism prosecutor’s office.
A Portuguese man was killed within the Saturday attack in the town of Mulhouse, near the border with Germany. Seven cops were wounded, including a parking control agent hospitalized with grave injuries, the prosecutor’s office said.
Those detained include the suspected assailant, a 37-year-old Algerian man identified by prosecutors as Brahim A. The inside minister described him as an Islamic extremist with a schizophrenic profile. Two of the suspect’s relations and a one that lodged him were also detained, the prosecutor’s office said.
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French President Emmanuel Macron said the federal government has “complete determination” to answer the attack, which he blamed on ’’Islamist terrorism.″ France has been on high alert for extremist threats.
The suspect repeatedly said ’’Allahu akbar″ — “God is great” in Arabic — in the course of the attack, the prosecutor said. He was armed with a knife and a screwdriver.
The suspect arrived in France without papers in 2014 and was arrested and convicted of glorifying terrorism within the wake of the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel, Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau told reporters Saturday night. Police experts had ″detected a schizophrenic profile″ within the suspect, he added.
After several months in prison for that conviction, the suspect was confined to accommodate arrest as authorities sought to expel him to Algeria. Retailleau criticized Algeria for resisting the return of criminals France is in search of to deport.
The French government will convene a special meeting Wednesday about immigration within the wake of the attack, Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said Sunday. They are going to notably study 19 countries “where we’ve got essentially the most difficulty in returning people without papers,″ Barrot said on Europe-1 radio.
© 2025 The Canadian Press
