French prosecutors opened a terror inquiry on Friday after a police employee was stabbed to death at a station southwest of Paris by a suspected Islamist extremist from Tunisia who was then shot dead by the security forces.
President Emmanuel Macron said France would never give in to “Islamist terrorism” after the attack in Rambouillet, which revived the trauma of a spate of deadly attacks last year.
France’s national anti-terrorism prosecutors said they had opened a terror investigation, also involving the DGSI domestic intelligence service, into the murder of a person holding public authority.
A source close to the inquiry said the attacker shouted “Allahu Akbar” (God is Greatest) during the attack.
Chief anti-terror prosecutor Jean-Francois Ricard confirmed that “comments made by the assailant” indicated a terror motive, without further details.
The attack took place in the secure entrance area of the station at around 2:20 p.m. (1220 GMT), a police source added.
The 49-year-old woman, an administrative assistant and mother of two who was returning from a lunch break, was stabbed in the throat twice and died of her wounds shortly afterwards, the source said.
The attacker, 36, was fatally wounded when an officer opened fire on him.
He arrived in France illegally in 2009 but had since obtained residency papers, a police source said, adding that he was unknown to security services. He had just moved to Rambouillet.
