A knife-wielding man has been hospitalised by police gunfire after going on a stabbing spree in the Gare du Nord railway station in Paris, France.
Details of the Paris mass stabbing are scanty at present, with Gérald Darmanin, France’s Minister of the Interior, saying the attacker was “rapidly neutralised” by law enforcement after he began stabbing people at around quarter to seven on Wednesday morning, The Telegraph reports.
“At 6:42, the first acts were described. At 6:43, the police used their administrative weapon after his passage of violence,” Darmanin said in comments quoted by the Associated Press.
“Without the extremely rapid intervention, there would surely be deaths,” the Frenchman added.
Reuters has claimed that the officer who took down the attacker was in fact off-duty and on his way home following a night shift.
French police cordon off an area at Paris’ Gare du Nord train station, after several people were wounded by a man wielding a knife on January 11, 2023. The man was arrested by police at the station, which serves as a hub for trains to London and northern Europe, after they opened fire and wounded him, said a police source, who asked not to be named. (Photo by JULIEN DE ROSA/AFP via Getty Images)
France has suffered a spate of radical Islamic terror attacks since 2015, some sophisticated attacks involving multiple attackers armed with firearms and suicide vests, some cruder but occasionally still extremely deadly attacks involving attackers using vehicles or simple tools like knives and hammers.
However, as of the time of publication, a terrorist motive for the Wednesday stabbing spree had not been confirmed, with Interior Minister Darmanin suggesting the attacker did not say anything during the attack — jihadist often carry out their attacks to cries of “Allahu akbar!” — and did not have any identity papers on his person.
A physical description of the knifeman does not appear to have been issued, beyond the fact that he was male.
French police stand guard in a cordonned off area at Paris’ Gare du Nord train station, after several people were wounded by a man wielding a knife on January 11, 2023. (Photo by JULIEN DE ROSA/AFP via Getty Images)
This story is developing…