French prosecutors reveal signs of extremism in attack on Paris police headquarters

Mahmoud Mohammadi

France’s counterterrorism prosecutor, Jean-François Ricard, said investigations found signs of underlying extremism in the knife attacker who killed four of his colleagues at the police headquarters in Paris.

The employee of the information technology department at the police headquarters carried out the attack in which he killed three police officers and an administrative employee and wounded another person before being shot dead by police.

Officials did not say whether there was a terrorism-related motive behind the attack, but referring the case to counterterrorism prosecutors suggests that a link to terrorism has become the focus of investigations.

Intentional crime

Ricard said his office had been handed the investigation because there were indications that the crime was intentional and that the attacker had a desire to die, as well as the nature of the injuries to at least one of the victims.

At a press conference, the prosecutor explained that the context of underlying extremism and the purely religious messages the attacker sent to his wife prior to the crime were additional factors.

He added that the investigation also revealed contacts between the attacker and a number of individuals likely belonging to the Salafist movement.

The attacker was born on the French island of Martinique and converted to Islam about ten years ago at the age of 45, Ricard pointed out, adding that he had worked at the police headquarters where the attack was carried out. Officials have only announced the first name of the attacker: Mickaël.

Paris police chief Didier Lallement told media, “Our professional work compels us not to rule out any hypothesis,” while French President Emmanuel Macron described the attack as a real tragedy.

Countering terrorism

The French authorities have stepped up counterterrorism measures, issuing laws to strengthen internal security and combat extremism. A plan has been drawn up that includes 32 measures, most notably creating a kind of centralization of counterterrorism efforts given to the General Directorate for Internal Security, which will be tasked with coordinating between all agencies, as well as conducting investigations and establishing channels of communication between all those working in this field.

France is one of the countries most affected by terrorism in the European Union. There have been many terrorist operations in recent years. As a result, the French authorities are seriously seeking to take various legislative measures to combat terrorism and to take the necessary criminal measures to stop funding and to freeze the financial assets of terrorist groups.