(Paris) French anti-terrorism prosecutor Jean-François Ricard reconstructed before the press on Sunday the unfolding of the knife and hammer attack perpetrated the day before by the Franco-Iranian Armand Rajabpour-Miyandoab, a 26-year-old convert to radical Islam years old, who killed a tourist and injured others near the Eiffel Tower in Paris.
” God is great ”
Around 9:30 p.m., Armand Rajabpour-Miyandoab attacked a group of three people of Filipino origin, at the entrance to the Bir-Hakeim bridge which spans the Seine between the 15th and 16th arrondissements of Paris.
He struck two hammer blows and four stab wounds to one of them, a young 23-year-old tourist who also had German nationality. The man died of his injuries in front of the two people who accompanied him, including his partner.
The latter, “particularly shocked”, have not yet been heard, according to the magistrate. The victim and his companion were both nurses, according to emergency doctor Patrick Pelloux who intervened on the scene.
At the same time, a taxi driver witnessed the scene and shouted to the attacker. The latter responds “Allah Akbar” by raising his arms to the sky before fleeing over the Bir-Hakeim bridge.
Car chase
On the other bank of the Seine, he came face to face with a police patrol and shouted “Allah Akbar” again when the police tried to approach him. He tells them he is wearing an explosive belt, then flees again, the patrol on his heels.
Hammer still in hand, he hits two passers-by in the head on his way. “Slightly injured”, they are a 60-year-old Frenchman and a 66-year-old British man, the second struck in the eye, according to the emergency doctor.
They will be taken care of by the emergency services, and have now returned home, said Jean-François Ricard.
After this second attack, the assailant took refuge in a square, then was finally “mastered” by police officers, thanks to two shots from an electric pulse gun.
Jail
Armand Rajabpour-Miyandoab is “immediately” placed in police custody, and the National Anti-Terrorism Prosecutor’s Office (Pnat) takes charge of the facts. An investigation is opened for assassination and attempted assassination in connection with a terrorist enterprise, and for criminal terrorist association.
Three other people “belonging to the author’s family or entourage” are also placed in police custody, added the anti-terrorism prosecutor.
The magistrate indicated that before committing the act, the perpetrator had recorded a video where he “pledged allegiance” in Arabic to the Islamic State organization.
He provided his “support to jihadists” acting in particular “in Africa, Iraq, Syria, Sinai, Yemen, Pakistan”, or even in Khorassan, a province of Iran, said Jean-François Ricard.
The attacker had published this video on his X account (formerly Twitter), opened at the beginning of October, where “numerous publications on Hamas, Gaza and Palestine” were also found.