On 31st October (Tuesday), French counter-terrorism police shot and seriously wounded a woman, wearing an Islamic veil, who had ‘threatened to blow herself up‘ at a busy train station in Paris, police said.
The police sources said that as per witnesses, the woman was completely veiled and shouting “Allahu akbar” while she “made threats” to blow herself up. The sources added that “police fired because they feared for their safety”.
“According to police, she made threats and advocated terrorism,” Daily Mail reported citing sources.
According to the sources, passengers on a suburban train alerted the police after which police personnel intervened at the Bibliotheque Francois Mitterrand station which is on the south bank of Paris. After evacuating the station, the officers managed to “isolate” the woman at the train station.
The office of the Paris Prosecutor stated that the woman “refused to follow police orders” and threatened “to blow herself up”. It added that a police officer then fired a single shot, inflicting a life-threatening injury to her abdomen. According to a BBC report, she is said to be critical but stable after being shot in the abdomen.
However, the police sources added that no explosives or other arms were found on the woman. Consequently, the Police have launched two investigations, prosecutors said.
According to them, one investigation will probe the woman’s actions, while another will investigate whether the use of a firearm by the police officials was justified.
The incident comes at a time when France has been placed on the highest possible level of security alert since 13th October. Back then, a man later identified as Mohammed Moguchkov killed Dominique Bernard. As per media reports, Bernard was a literature teacher and he was killed outside the Gambetta-Carnot school in Arras.
Screaming ‘Allahu Akbar’ during the attack, Moguchkov also went on to injure three other members of the teaching staff. The fatal knife attack took place on ‘Global Day of Jihad’ which was called by Hamas terrorists on the first Friday since the 7th October terror attack on Israel.
After arresting Moguchkov, French authorities initiated an anti-terrorist investigation into the case as the French government described it as an “Islamist terror attack”.
Despite heightened security, French authorities had been forced, on multiple occasions, to evacuate dozens of airports, train stations, and tourist sites in recent weeks in the wake of bomb threats.
Additionally, BBC pointed out that there has been a surge of anti-Semitic incidents in the Paris region in recent days. Buildings in various areas of Paris and its suburbs have been defaced with Stars of David, a symbol associated with Judaism.
In the northern suburb of Saint-Ouen, these symbols were discovered on a resident’s home, prompting Mayor Karim Bouamrane to demand that the culprits responsible for the “anti-Semitic and racist” graffiti be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.
On the night of 30-31 October, approximately 60 more Stars of David were spray-painted onto multiple buildings in the 14th arrondissement of Paris.
Emmanuel Grégoire, deputy to Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo, confirmed that the stars would be removed, and an investigation into the matter would be initiated. Gregoire said, “Antisemitism continues to kill. We will never give up the fight.”