French police have arrested several times after a man was stabbed and killed one person and injured several others in what President Emmanuel Macron called “Muslim terrorist acts,” he said. Terrorist prosecutors said Sunday.
The knife-wielding suspect, identified by prosecutors as a 37-year-old Algerian-born man, was arrested at the location of Saturday's attack in Malhouse city.
He was on the terrorist watch list and was subject to an expelling order.
PNAT prosecutors' forces said three more people were in custody in connection with the lawsuit Sunday, but did not provide details.
Local prosecutor Nicholas Heights said the suspect he didn't name was placed on the French terrorist watch list.
Speaking at the police station late Saturday, Home Minister Bruno Retero said the man had a “schizophrenia profile” and that his actions had “psychiatric aspects.”
Reciro said that France repeatedly tried to expel him from the country, but Algeria refused to cooperate.
The Rampage occurred around 4pm (1500 GMT) near the busy market in Malhaus, a city of about 110,000 people near the German border. At the time, protesters were gathering in support of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
The 69-year-old Portuguese man was fatally injured while attending the parking lot and police were also injured.
Two officers were seriously injured, one suffered carotid injuries and the other injured in the upper body, prosecutor Heights told AFP, adding that the latter officer was able to leave the hospital. .
Prosecutors said three other officers suffered minor injuries.
During the attack, the suspect heard the cry of “Arafu Akbar” (God is the greatest), according to the National Anti-Terrorist Prosecutor's Force (PNAT).
Witnesses also told AFP that they had heard the suspect scream words several times.
Macron later said that the incident was “unquestionable” as being “terrorist acts,” particularly “Muslim terrorist acts.”
He added that the government has decided to continue “all to eradicate terrorism in our soil.”
During a visit to the French Agricultural Fair on Saturday, Macron expressed his sadness to the victims' families, saying “national solidarity” was behind them.
PNAT said it is investigating the murder attack and investigating attempted murders “in relation to terrorist companies.”
A terrorist watchlist called the FSPRT compiles data from various authorities on individuals that aim to prevent the radicalization of “terrorists.”
It was released in 2015 after a fatal attack in the satire magazine Charlie Hebd's office and Jewish supermarket.
Retaille told French broadcaster TF1 that France had tried to expel him 10 times.
“One more, it was Islamist terrorism that hit,” he said. And again, he added that the issue of migration “is at the origins of this terrorist act.”
There were no immediate comments from the Algerian president or the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Prime Minister François Bylow said, “Fraciousism has hit again, and we are in mourning.”
Mulhouse Mayor Michele Lutz wrote on Facebook that “horror just seized our city.”
French Foreign Minister Jean Noel Barott said there will be a meeting of the government's Immigration Management Council on Wednesday to discuss the impact of the incident.
“We have to do more, we have to do better,” he told European One Broadcasting Station.
France recently experienced a series of stab wounds that are considered acts of fear.
In January, a 32-year-old knife-wielding man injured a person at an APT supermarket in southern France. He was charged with attempted murder in connection with terrorist businesses and was jailed.
In December 2023, a man suspected of stabbing a German tourist near Eiffel Tower was charged with terrorist attacks.
