French Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin said on Sunday that the country was “durably under threat from Islamist terrorism” after the suspect of a fatal stabbing near the Eiffel Tower on Saturday was identified as a sympathizer of the Islamic State terror group.
A day earlier, Armand Rajabpour-Miyandoab, a 26-year-old French national born to Iranian parents, allegedly stopped a tourist couple from Germany to ask for a cigarette but then fatally stabbed the male tourist and injured the woman. The suspect then ran across a bridge across the Seine to reportedly attack two people with a hammer—a British and a French national.
Three people close to the suspect have also been taken into custody.
At a news conference on Sunday, France’s top anti-terrorism prosecutor Jean-Francois Ricard, said the suspect had posted a video on X, formerly Twitter, before the attack in which he pledged allegiance to Islamic State.
Mr. Rajabpour-Miyandoab used a name to introduce himself that referred to the Afghan branch of Islamic State, the prosecutor said. He also expressed his support for Islamic jihadists in various areas around the world, including in Africa, Iraq, Syria, Egypt’s Sinai, Yemen, Iran and Pakistan.
The suspect faces murder charges in connection with a terrorist organization.
Mr. Ricard said that Mr. Rajabpour-Miyandoab quickly radicalized after converting to Islam at age 18, even planning to leave France to fight alongside the Islamic State in Syria in 2016. His plan fell through when he was arrested on charges of planning violence that same year and placed under probation, during which he received mandatory psychiatric care.
After his probation period, Mr. Rajabpour-Miyandoab was put on a watch list of dangerous individuals.
Mr. Ricard added that his mother had expressed “concerns” over her son isolating himself, but no evidence was found that warranted an arrest.
Olympic Stress
The attack near the Eiffel Tower on Saturday has raised concerns for the French capital less than a year before it hosts the Olympic Games, with the opening ceremony due to take place along the Seine.
During an interview with French broadcaster TF1 on Sunday, Mr. Darmanin sought to quell any fears regarding security at the upcoming Olympic Games.
“We have set up perimeters in Paris … and in all the major cities that will be hosting the games, to prevent this kind of thing from happening, so we can check people’s identities,” he said, referring to the much-criticized plan to introduce QR codes for all attendees.
“Instead of creating polemics over propositions by our ministry and the police authorities we should better trust the police to do their job,” the Interior Minister said.
“There will be what we call a checkpoint which will prevent people from entering if they cannot present a document—a QR Code,” he added.
“Police officers are not doctors, but they have to handle the cases of people with psychiatric troubles, and for some of them who adhere to radical Islamism—and there can be quite a few—we need to identify them.”
According to the minister, one-third of suspected radicals under police surveillance have psychiatric issues.
“There is no obligation of psychiatric care yet but maybe we should work towards creating an obligation of psychiatric care.”
Following the attack, French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne called a meeting Sunday evening with key ministers and officials charged with security for a “total review” of the current measures in place and the handling of the “most dangerous individuals,” her office said.
France has been under a heightened terror alert since the fatal stabbing in October of a teacher by a radicalized former student.
The country has been subjected to numerous terrorist attacks over the past decade, with the worst being the November 2015 Islamic State terror attack in Paris that resulted in 137 deaths. A year later, over 80 people were killed by a terrorist who drove a heavy truck through crowds in Nice on Bastille Day. The Islamic State also claimed responsibility for that attack.
The Associated Press contributed to this article.
