A man started a stinging rampage in a small French city on Saturday, killing one person and wounding several more in what President Emmanuel Macron called a “Muslim terrorist attack.”
“It was a terrorist attack, and there was no doubt about it. It was a Muslim terrorist attack,” he said, adding that the government was determined “to eradicate terrorism in our country.” Police said they are investigating the stabbing as a terrorist attack.
The man targeted the market in Malhaus, a city about 70 miles south of Strasbourg, near the French border between Germany and Switzerland.
When he began his attack, the 37-year-old heard him scream “Alahu Akbar,” according to French anti-terrorism police. The Arabic phrase, meaning “God is great,” is a daily expression used in religious and secular settings, but it has also become a cry of war in terrorist attacks by Islamic fundamentalists.
A civilian was killed when he tried to stop the man, police said. Three police officers were also injured in the attack, two of whom became serious.
The man arrested at the scene has not been identified by name, but was on the French terrorist watch list, Marhaus prosecutor Nicholas Heights told French media. Heights said it has been listed on the list of people monitoring potential radicalization, where the government is monitoring potential radicalization after authorities refuse to apply for residence or asylum.
“Horror just wiped out our city,” Mulhouse mayor Michèle Lutz said in a Facebook post.
