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WORLD NEWS Tuesday 20 June 2017
Car rams police vehicle on famed Paris avenue; attacker dies

him, according to witness around the French capital.
accounts. The interior minis- Noemie Pfister, walking
ter confirmed that he died. with her infant child and a
No one else was injured de- friend, said she saw a car
spite the crowds of tourists fly past a column of po-
and others walking down lice vans, then fishtail. She
the avenue on a hot, sunny wasn’t sure if she saw it ram
day, the Paris police de- into one of the vehicles
partment said. because it happened so
Interior Minister Gerard quickly, but she can’t for-
Collomb called it an “at- get the smoke and flames.
tempted attack” and said “I saw gendarmes get out
it “shows once again that of a van, run, break the
the threat level in France window” of the car, she
is extremely high.” The min- said in an interview. “They
ister used the occasion took the man out and put
to explain the continued him a bit further away (from
need for a state of emer- the car) on the other side
gency, in place since 2015, of the road,” she recalled.
and plans to extend it un- “I couldn’t understand,
til Nov. 1, to be presented but I find it really strange
at a Cabinet meeting that a car would pass (po-
Wednesday. lice) vans and all of a sud-
A man could be seen ly- den spit fire,” said Pfister. “I
In this photo provided by Noemie Pfister, French gendarmes use fire extinguishers after a man
rammed into a police convoy and detonated an explosive device on the Champs Elysees ave- ing on his stomach on the thought in my mind of an
nue in Paris, France, Monday, June 19, 2017. Two French police officials say the man who rammed ground immediately after attack.”
into a police convoy on Paris’ Champs-Elysees was a 31-year-old man from a Paris suburb who the incident, wearing a Leonard Odihe said he
had been flagged for extremism. white shirt and dark shorts. saw officers break into the
(Noemie Pfister via AP) The body was kept out of car, pull the man out and
view under a tent, and throw two weapons on the
By ELAINE GANLEY a car carrying arms and anti-terrorism prosecutor later police were seen re- ground, “a big pistol and
LORI HINNANT explosives into a police opened an investigation. moving it, in a body bag another big arm like the
Associated Press convoy on Paris’ famed Gendarmes jumped out of on a stretcher.If confirmed weapons police carry.”
PARIS (AP) — A man on the Champs-Elysees Avenue, the vehicle, ran to the car, as a deliberate attack, Odihe said he also saw
radar of French authorities setting off a fiery blast and smashed its windows and this would be the fifth time bottles of gas, one of which
for extremism was killed a cloud of orange smoke, pulled out the driver in an this year that police forc- apparently exploded in-
Monday after ramming officials said. France’s apparent attempt to save es have been targeted side the car.q

Muslims targeted by violence
in wake of IS-claimed attacks

By PAISLEY DODDS worship, and because they
DANICA KIRKA share a religion hijacked
Associated Press by bloodthirsty extremists
LONDON (AP) — The at- like the Islamic State group,
tack on Muslim worshippers which was quick to claim
outside a London mosque responsibility for recent at-
on Monday follows a rising tacks in Britain and else-
wave of violence and ha- where. In Monday’s attack,
rassment directed against a man plowed a van into a
Muslims across Britain and crowd of worshippers, injur-
around the world. ing at least nine people —
This month alone, a Mus- a tactic used in the recent
lim woman wearing a attacks on Westminster
head scarf told police in and London bridges.
Lancashire her car was London’s Police Commis-
struck by a bag of vomit. sioner, Cressida Dick, said
Worshippers at the Omar Monday’s assault outside
Faruque mosque in Cam- two mosques during the
bridge found strips of ham holy month of Ramadan
attached to their vehicles. was clearly “an attack on
Several Muslim families Muslims.”
have reported receiving “We are easy targets be-
letters warning, “You are cause of the way we dress
no longer welcome in this and when we pray,” said
country.” Scores say they Hassan Ali, a 34-year-old
have been spat on. resident of Finsbury Park,
Across Britain, Muslims say a north London neighbor-
they are being targeted by hood that is home to a
a wave of animosity and large Muslim population
violence simply because and where the attack oc-
of the way they dress and curred. q