France’s Inside Minister, Gérald Darmanin, advised France 2 in an interview on Friday that authorities had been working to confirm extra particulars concerning the suspect’s background after the assault that left two individuals severely injured.
The minister additionally confirmed that the incident was being handled as “an act of Islamist terrorism.”
The lead suspect had not been identified to police for “radicalization” however was arrested final month for carrying a screwdriver, Darmanin added.
Police say seven individuals have been arrested over the assault. 5 of the arrests had been made in an condo “more likely to have been utilized by the primary suspect,” a judicial supply advised CNN on Friday.
Though the victims haven’t been named, they’re each workers of French documentary manufacturing agency Premières Lignes, based on the corporate’s founder Paul Moreira.
Moreira stated the pair had been attacked with a “form of cleaver” in entrance of the workplace. Their lives will not be at risk however they’re in a severe situation, a police spokesperson stated Friday.
In an announcement on Fb, Charlie Hebdo journal expressed its “help and solidarity” to Premières Lignes and “to these affected by this heinous assault.”
Annie Hidalgo, mayor of Paris, tweeted that “it’s as soon as once more freedom of expression that’s focused,” whereas former Prime Minister Manuel Valls stated on Twitter that it gave him the sensation of “reliving a nightmare.”
The knife assault got here throughout a trial of 14 suspects for his or her alleged involvement in a sequence of terrorist assaults over three days in January 2015, which began within the workplaces of Charlie Hebdo and led to a kosher grocery store.
A complete of 17 individuals had been killed within the 2015 assaults, which had been carried out by brothers Mentioned and Chérif Kouachi and their confederate Amedy Coulibaly. The suspects at the moment on trial are accused of offering these males with logistical help.
After the knife assault on Friday, Luc Hermann, Director of Premières Lignes, criticized what he stated was a “complete absence of safety of this constructing for the reason that assaults on Charlie Hebdo.”
CNN’s Gaëlle Fournier and Niamh Kennedy contributed to this report.
