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A30 world news
Diasabra 29 Mei 2021

Frenchman killed after stabbing, shooting 3 police officers

(AP) — A man with severe schizophre-
nia who had been on a watch list for Is- French police deployed helicopters, search
lamic radicalism stabbed a police officer dogs and more than 200 officers to find the
at her station Friday in western France suspect, and closed nearby schools and stores.
and shot two other officers before police When he was located, he fired on officers try-
killed him, authorities said. ing to arrest him, Darmanin said.

The slain suspect was a Frenchman in his The suspect was gravely wounded in an ensu-
40s who had been on a watch list for Islamic ing shootout, and died Friday afternoon of his
radicalism because of his “rigorous” religious injuries, according to a police official. The of-
practices, Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin ficial, who was not authorized to be publicly
said. The assailant had recently been released named, said authorities are not searching for
from prison and was under monitoring by any accomplices.
psychiatric services, he said.
French President Emmanuel Macron, on a
The three officers were wounded but none visit to South Africa, called for “all efforts to
is in life-threatening condition, the minister clarify the circumstances” of the attack and to
said. better protect France.
The motive for the violence in the Nantes Police and ambulances blocked roads in the
suburb of La Chapelle-sur-Erdre was unclear, normally quiet, residential area after the stab-
but Darmanin told reporters at the scene that bing.
the man “clearly wanted to attack police.”
Domestic security and attacks on police are a
The attacker was born in France and did not big political issue ahead of regional elections
have any past convictions for terrorism-relat- next month and France’s presidential election
ed crimes, Darmanin said. next year.

The assailant, who lived in La Chapelle- Two police employees have been killed in
sur-Erdre, entered the police station Friday France in recent weeks. One was an adminis-
morning saying he had a car problem, Mayor trative official stabbed to death inside her po-
Fabrice Roussel said. lice station near Paris in what authorities are
investigating as an Islamic extremist attack.
He then stabbed the first police officer inside The other was a drug squad officer shot to
the station, apparently took her gun and fled, death in the southern city of Avignon.
Darmanin said. The officer was wounded in
the leg and hand.

Malaysia imposes near-total lockdown after virus cases soar

(AP) — Malaysia’s prime minis- down June 1-14 in the first phase of
ter announced on Friday a near- the full lockdown, except for essen-
total coronavirus lockdown in tial services.
the country, with social and eco-
nomic activities to be halted for If daily cases fall, some economic
two weeks to contain a worsen- sectors will be allowed to reopen in
ing outbreak. the second phase, which is expected
to last four weeks, he said. After that,
Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin the country will return to current
said the decision to implement the controls, with all businesses allowed
lockdown starting June 1 came after to operate but not social activities.
new infections breached 8,000 on
Friday for the first time, sparking Muhyiddin vowed that the govern-
fears the disease could spiral out of ment will bolster the healthcare sys-
control. tem to ensure it doesn’t collapse and
ramp up vaccinations.
The government earlier this month
imposed a partial lockdown until This is the country’s second na-
June 7, stopping short of shutting tionwide lockdown in over a year.
down businesses to prevent a possi- A lockdown last year badly hit the
ble economic catastrophe. But new economy, and the government re-
infections have climbed since the sisted growing calls for another
recent Muslim Eid festival, crossing large-scale lockdown but caved in
6,000 on May 19 for the first time after the runaway increase in new
and soaring to 8,290 on Friday. cases.

This raised the country’s total cases Earlier Friday, Senior Minister Is-
to 549,514. The health ministry also mail Sabri said many ethnic Malay
reported another 61 deaths Friday, Muslims violated COVID-19 safety
pushing the tally to 2,552 — near- rules that banned them from visiting
ly 40% recorded this month alone. each other during the Eid festival.
Malaysia’s total cases and deaths
have jumped nearly five-fold com- He said 24 Eid clusters have been
pared to all of last year. detected with 850 confirmed cases.
Many of the positive cases involved
Muhyiddin said in a statement that people who were asymptomatic, he
all business activities will be shut said.