PARIS (AFP) – The condition of a man who was shot after attacking troops at the Louvre in Paris has improved and is “no longer life-threatening”, a source close to the case said Saturday.
But the man has not recovered sufficiently to be able to communicate with investigators, the source said.
The machete-wielding attacker lunged at four French soldiers while shouting “Allahu Akbar” (“God is greatest”) in a public area that leads to one of the Louvre Museum’s entrances.
One of the troops was slightly injured after being struck on the head.
A second soldier opened fire five times and hit the assailant in the stomach.
“The attacker fell to the ground, seriously wounded,” Paris prosecutor Francois Molins told a press conference late Friday.
A source close to the case said the assailant’s “condition is no longer life-threatening”.
Based on his phone and visa records, he is thought to be a 29-year-old Egyptian national who is resident in the United Arab Emirates.
Investigators have established he entered France legally on a flight from Dubai on January 26 and had rented an expensive apartment near the Champs Elysees, sources close to the case told AFP.
His motive for the attack is not yet known, but President Francois Hollande has said that “there is little doubt as to the terrorist nature of this act”.
France has been hit by a string of terror attacks over the last two years and the country has been under a state of emergency since November 2015.
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