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WORLD NEWS Monday 6 February 2017

Louvre attack suspect silent during initial questioning

THOMAS ADAMSON Sunday that local security
AHMED HATEM agencies were continuing
Associated Press to gather information on
PARIS (AP) — An Egyptian Abdullah al-Hamahmy to
man suspected of charg- help establish if he was a
ing soldiers at Paris’ Louvre member of any militant
museum with a machete groups or had been radi-
was questioned by French calized. “We are trying to
investigators Sunday for determine whether he was
the first time since the at- a lone wolf, worked with a
tack. group or he is innocent,”
The Paris prosecutor’s of- said one of the two offi-
fice said the suspect, who cials, who is employed by
allegedly shouted “Allahu the Interior Ministry. Investi-
akbar!” while rushing to- gators were examining his
ward the soldiers and was social media accounts, he
shot four times after slightly added.
injuring one, remained si- “His tweets show a radical-
lent during the interview ized person. He supports the
and will remain in custody. Daesh and other extremists
The Louvre was closed im- in Syria,” said the official,
mediately following the Fri- using the Arabic acronym
day attack, but reopened for the Islamic State group.
for the weekend. A French soldier patrols in the courtyard of the Louvre museum in Paris, Saturday, Feb. 4, 2017. One recent tweet by
French authorities so far The Egyptian man suspected of charging soldiers at Paris’ Louvre museum with a machete was Abdullah al-Hamahmy de-
have not named the sus- questioned by French investigators Sunday for the first time since the attack. fended the Islamic State.
pect, but confirmed they (AP Photo/Kamil Zihnioglu) “Why are they sacred of
thought he was Egyptian. Emirates,” he said, adding a soldier patrolling an un- olence. “Before the attack, the Islamic State? Because
They are being more cau- that his son had gone to derground mall near the he commented on one of the Islamic State defends
tious than their Egyptian France on a “work assign- famous Paris museum, but our friends’ pictures on In- its resources, territory, the
counterparts, who have ment.” that the injuries are no lon- stagram and liked some honor and dignity of Mus-
identified the attacker as Abdullah has lived in Dubai ger life-threatening. (other) pictures. He also lims,” he wrote.
28-year-old Abdullah Reda for the past five years, em- Ibrahim Youssry, a close called his father and asked The information gathered
Refaie al-Hamahmy. ployed by what his father friend of Abdullah al- him what to bring for him on Abdullah al-Hamahmy
Hamahmy’s father spoke said was a law firm. Hamahmy, said his behav- from France. All this contra- will be shared with French
out Saturday to say that his The Paris prosecutor’s of- ior on the day of the attack dicts the French story,” said authorities, according to
son is not a terrorist, but a fice says the attacker was did not betray any inten- Youssry. the second official, who is
family man who led a nor- shot after lightly wounding tion to commit an act of vi- Two Egyptian officials said with the Foreign Ministry.q
mal life with his wife and
infant son. Turkish police: 440 detained in anti-IS operation
Reda Refaie al-Hamahmy
told The Associated Press Associated Press and Gaziantep, near the and the northwestern prov- shares borders with Syria
late Saturday that he trusts ISTANBUL (AP) — Turkey’s border with Syria. The larg- ince of Kocaeli. and Iraq, two war-torn na-
the French judiciary to anti-terrorism police have est operation was in the Turkey, which last year tions at the heart of the
find out the truth behind detained over 440 people southeast province of San- endured a failed coup fight against IS militants.
his Abdullah’s alleged in- for alleged links to the Is- liurfa, where police took attempt and dozens of Turkish forces have been
volvement in the attack. lamic State group, the into custody more than 100 bloody attacks linked to deployed in Syria since Au-
“If he is convicted, God be state-run agency reported suspects from multiple ad- IS or Kurdish militants, has gust with the aim of clear-
with us. But if he is innocent, Sunday. dresses and found materi- been stepping up its anti- ing a border patch of IS
they owe us an apology,” The Anadolu Agency said als relating to Islamic State terrorism efforts. militants and Syrian Kurdish
the father said at the fam- 60 IS suspects, the vast militants. Security forces The Islamic State group fighters that Ankara consid-
ily home in the Nile Delta majority of them foreign- also apprehended nine claimed responsibility for a ers related to its own Kurd-
city of Mansoura. ers, were taken into cus- suspects who were alleg- New Year Eve mass shoot- ish insurgency.
“He is a very respectable tody early Sunday in the edly preparing an attack ing at an Istanbul night- Some of those taken into
man who never had a capital, Ankara. It said a in the northwestern city of club that killed 39 people. custody Sunday report-
problem with anybody, he total of 445 people were Izmir. Anadolu did not give It claims to have multiple edly were active in conflict
never had any sort of po- detained in simultaneous the nationalities of all those cells in Turkey. zones and engaged in re-
litical views,” he said. “His pre-dawn police opera- detained but there were 10 Turkey is a member of the cruitment efforts for IS, re-
main concern in his life was tions that spanned several minors among the foreign- NATO alliance and the U.S- laying its propaganda over
his work in the United Arab cities, including Istanbul ers detained in Istanbul led coalition against IS. It social media.q