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A8 WORLD NEWS
Saturday 4 February 2017
Soldiers thwart attack on Louvre, tourists held in lockdown
SYLVIE CORBET residence permit, driver’s li-
JOHN LEICESTER cense and a credit card all
RAPHAEL SATTER issued from the UAE, Molins
Associated Press said. He said the suspect’s
PARIS (AP) — Paris was return flight to Dubai was
plunged into panic — scheduled for Sunday.
again — when soldiers Friday’s attack targeted
guarding the Louvre Mu- an entrance to a shopping
seum shot an attacker who mall that extends beneath
lunged at them with two the sprawling Louvre, a me-
machetes on Friday and dieval former royal palace
shouted “Allahu Akbar!” as now home to the “Mona
the historic landmark went Lisa” and hundreds of
into lockdown. other masterpieces. Wav-
The threat appeared to ing two machetes over his
quickly recede after the as- head, the assailant lunged
sailant was subdued, but at the soldiers patrolling in
it cast a new shadow over the mall, shouting “Allahu
the city just as tourism was Akbar!” or “God is great!”
beginning to rebound after Molins said.
a string of deadly attacks. One soldier fought him off
Coming just hours before and was slightly injured in
Paris finalized its bid for the Armed police officers patrol in the courtyard of the Louvre museum near where a soldier opened the scalp. Another soldier
2024 Olympics, it also re- fire after he was attacked in Paris, Friday, Feb. 3, 2017. A knife-wielding man shouting “Allahu ak- fell to the ground as the
newed questions about se- bar” attacked French soldiers on patrol near the Louvre Museum Friday in what officials described assailant tried to slash him,
curity in the City of Light. as a suspected terror attack. The soldiers first tried to fight off the attacker and then opened fire, then opened fire, shooting
The soldiers’ quick action shooting him five times. the attacker in the stom-
put an end to what French (AP Photo/Christophe Ena) ach. When that didn’t stop
President Francois Hollande tions. 29-year-old Egyptian who formally confirmed. him, the soldier fired three
said was “no doubt” a ter- French prosecutor Fran- had been living in the Unit- “Everything shows that the more time, gravely wound-
rorist attack at one of Paris’ cois Molins said the assail- ed Arab Emirates, though assailant was very deter- ing him. The backpack the
most iconic tourist attrac- ant was believed to be a his identity has not yet been mined”, Molins told a news man was carrying con-
conference, adding that tained cans of spray paint,
the attacker, who was shot but no explosives, Molins
four times, was in a life- said. The 1,200 people in-
threatening condition in a side the Louvre — one of
hospital. the world’s biggest tour-
Anti-terrorism prosecutors ist attractions — were first
took charge of the inves- shuttled into windowless
tigation as police carried rooms as part of a special
out raids near the tree-lined security protocol before
Champs-Elysees linked to being evacuated. The mu-
the attack, which came seum in central Paris re-
two months after authorities mained closed for the rest
carried out a special anti- of Friday but will reopen on
terrorism exercise around Saturday, Culture Minister
the Louvre. Audrey Azoulay told report-
Molins said the attacker ers. Hollande, speaking at
was not carrying any iden- a news conference in Mal-
tity papers but investigators ta where he was attending
used his cellphone and a a European Union summit,
national data base of visa said that while the Louvre
applicants containing their incident was quickly con-
photos and fingerprints to tained, the overall threat
determine that he was a to France remains high. He
resident of the United Arab said the incident showed
Emirates who arrived in Par- the need for the increased
is on a tourist visa on Jan. security patrols deployed
26. around France since at-
Two days later the suspect tacks in 2015.
bought two military ma- Those patrols — numbering
chetes at a gun store in about 3,500 soldiers in the
Paris, the prosecutor said. Paris area — were first de-
He also paid 1,700 euros ployed following the Janu-
for a one-week stay at ary 2015 attack on Paris’
an apartment in the chic satirical magazine Char-
8th arrondissement of the lie Hebdo and reinforced
French capital, near the after the November 2015
Champs-Elysees. bomb-and-gun attacks
In the apartment, police that left 130 people dead
found an Egyptian passport at the city’s Bataclan con-
and 965 euros, as well as a cert hall and other sites.q
