Paris, 3 December 2023 (dpa/MIA) - A suspected Islamist killed a German tourist with a knife in Paris near the Eiffel Tower on Saturday evening, Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin confirmed on the social platform X.

Two other people were injured in the suspected attack. Darmanin wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter, that police had detained the suspected perpetrator.

During a visit to the scene of the crime, Darmanin said that the perpetrator was known to the domestic intelligence service for radical Islamism and "significant mental disorders," according to television channel BFMTV.

The detained man had reportedly already been sentenced to four years in prison in 2016 following a failed attack plan.

French Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne wrote on X: "We will not give in to terrorism. Never."

The national anti-terrorism prosecutor's office announced that it would look into the attack.

The attacker targeted a "German tourist couple" on a bridge. The woman had not been physically injured but went into shock, Darmanin said. The man was hit in the back and shoulder and suffered a cardiac arrest, French newspaper Le Parisien reported, citing the police. The attacker then fled and attacked two other people before being detained.

Darmanin went on to say that the alleged perpetrator had said after his arrest that he could no longer bear to see Muslims die in both Afghanistan and Palestine. The man believed that France was complicit in Israel's war in the Gaza Strip and wanted to die as a martyr.

Le Parisien reported that the suspected perpetrator is said to have sworn allegiance to the terrorist organization Islamic State.

Photo: EPA