ISIS claims responsibility for Paris knife attack

The beautiful city of Paris, capital of France is still recovering from its recent incident that took place on Saturday.

A man shouting “Allahu Akbar” (God is great in Arabic) has stabbed and killed random pedestrians in the city. He killed one person and injured 4, leading to a terror probe.

The attack took place near the city’s main opera house in an area full of bars, restaurants and theatres which were brimming on a weekend night.

French President Emmanuel Macron said: “France once again pays the price of blood.”

Saturday’s assault is the latest to strike a nation rocked by a series of jihadist attacks in the last three years that have killed more than 245 people.

Prosecutors cited witnesses as saying the man shouted “Allahu akbar” (God is greatest) as he went on the rampage, and added that a terror investigation had been launched.

The ISIS claimed responsibility, according to the SITE monitoring group, but provided no corroborating proof.

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“The executor of the stabbing operation in the city of Paris is a soldier of the ISIS and the operation was carried out in response to the calls to target the coalition states,” a “security source,” told IS’ official Amaq news agency, according to SITE.

The man, who has not yet been named, attacked five people with a knife, one of whom died, police said. Two were in serious condition and all the victims are in the hospital.

A police source told a leading news agency that one officer tried to restrain the attacker with a taser but when that failed a colleague shot the man dead.

Interior Minister Gerard Collomb hailed in a tweet the “sang-froid and reaction of the police who neutralised the attacker”.

Prime Minister Edouard Philippe, who visited police in the district where the attack took place, added: “France is determined not to give in to threats that the attackers’ hope will grind her (the country) down.”

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France has suffered a series of major Islamist attacks including the massacre at the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo, the November 2015 attacks that killed 130 in Paris, and the 2016 Bastille Day truck attack in Nice that killed more than 80.

There have also been a string of less deadly but frequent attacks by lone wolf jihadists wielding knives or guns. Most of the attacks have either been claimed by the Islamic State group or been carried out in their name.

A state of emergency put in place just after the 2015 Paris attacks was lifted in October when Macron’s centrist government passed a new law boosting the powers of security forces.

French far-right leader Marine Le Pen called for greater security measures after Saturday’s attack.

“The French people will no longer be content with talk, they expect action,” she said.

Thousands of French troops remain on the streets under an anti-terror operation known as Sentinelle, patrolling transport hubs, tourist hotspots and other sensitive sites.