ISIS knifeman, 20, who killed one and injured four in rampage near Paris opera house is named as a refugee from Chechnya who 'was on anti-terror watchlist' and claimed asylum in France a decade ago
- Armed police swooped on Paris as a terrorist rampaged through part of the city while shouting 'Allah Akbar'
- Assailant, 20-year-old born in Chechnya, 'slashed at the throats of innocent bystanders' in the Opera district
- He killed one man, aged 29, after stabbing him close to the city's historic Opera House yesterday afternoon
- Four others were injured as the killer, who ISIS have claimed was one of their 'soldiers', was targeted by police
- Police have now detained the killer's parents, who are also from Chechnya, after the savage slaughter in Paris
An Islamic State terrorist who arrived in France as a refugee from war-torn Chechnya launched a nine-minute lethal knife rampage in Paris before being gunned down, it emerged today.
The 20-year-old, named as Khamzat Asimov, murdered one man and severely wounded four others - including a Chinese and Luxembourg citizen - in the attacks close to the historic Opera Garnier, in the centre of the city.
Hours afterwards, his parents were both arrested at the family home in Paris, where they have lived since fleeing Chechnya in the early 2000s.
He was on an anti-terror watchlist of suspected extremists, sources close said today.
Police said they had arrested and held for questioning a friend of the attacker in Strasbourg.
Outlining details of the latest terrorist bloodbath in Paris, police said they received the first emergency call at 8.47pm on Saturday.
The attacker was shouting 'Allahu Akbar' - Arabic for 'God is the Greatest' - as he slashed throats at random.
Paris prosecutors confirmed that the dead man was born in the Russian republic of Chechnya in 1997 and had no previous criminal record - but was on the so-called 'S file' of people suspected of radicalised views who could pose security risks.
'He had no judicial record,' a source said. '(The attacker) is French, born in Chechnya. His father and mother were placed in custody Sunday morning.'
He came to France as a political refugee in the early 2000s, and as he grew up displayed an increasing interest in radical Islam, another source added.
There are some 30,000 Chechens in France, most of whom arrived as political refugees in the early 2000s because of the two Chechen Wars.
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Pictures from Twitter appear to show a man lying in the middle of a street after the knifeman went on a rampage in Paris, slashing at the throats of his targets
The attacker was shouting 'Allahu Akbar' - Arabic for 'God is the Greatest' - as he slashed throats at random. Pictured: Police at the scene after the brutal attack
A heavy police presence remained at the scene of the attack which unfolded in central Paris yesterday as the Chechnya-born man went on a savage rampage
Armed police swooped on the area close to the historic Opera Garnier opera house yesterday where they were able to bring a halt to the blood shed by shooting the assailant dead
The man attacked several people with a knife, one of whom died, police said. Two were in serious condition and all the victims are in hospital
Interior Minister Gerard Collomb hailed in a tweet the 'sang-froid and reaction of the police who neutralised the attacker.' A large area was cordoned off where police, fire and rescue vehicles converged.
The initial attack took place on Rue Monsigny, in the 2nd arrondissement, where crowds were seen running away in panic
President Emmanuel Macron has since been active in admitting more who have suffered persecution in a Muslim-majority republic that is now part of the Russian Federation.
Last year Mr Macron complained to Vladimir Putin, his Russian counterpart, about the alleged torture of homosexuals in Chechnya.
Armed police swooped on the French capital's historic Opera Garnier opera house shortly after 9pm and used a taser on the attacker before shooting him dead when he refused to surrender.
According to Le Figaro, the attacker was armed with a 10cm - 4in - kitchen knife.
ISIS later claimed the killer was one of their 'soldiers' as President Emmanuel Macron said: 'France has once again paid the price of blood'.
Dramatic footage shows scenes of panic as people sprinted away from the scene of the rampage where someone could be seen covered in blood and lying on their back in the street.
The bloodbath, which left a 29-year-old man dead, took place in Rue Monsigny in the 2nd arrondissement - an area between the main opera house and the Louvre museum, two major tourist attractions full of bars, restaurants and theatres which were brimming on a weekend night.
One horrified witness said people hid in a bar after seeing the assailant 'slaughter' someone in the street. Another said they heard four shots in quick succession.
THE DEADLY JIHADIST ATTACKS ON FRANCE THAT HAVE CLAIMED THE LIVES OF NEARLY 250
Jihadist attacks have killed more than 245 people across France since the 2015 Charlie Hebdo shootings.
Here is a recap of incidents that have taken place in the past three years:
2018 March 23: Gunman Radouane Lakdim killed four people in the southern towns of Trebes and Carcassonne, including policeman Lieutenant-Colonel Arnaud Beltrame who was hailed as a hero for taking the place of a hostage. Lakdim was shot dead by police after a stand-off.
2017 October 1: A 29-year-old Tunisian cries 'Allah Akbar' and kills two young women with a knife at the main train station in the southern city of Marseille Ahmed Hanachi is shot dead by soldiers on patrol. His attack is claimed by the Islamic State (IS) group.
2017 April 20: A 39-year-old ex-convict shoots dead an on-duty policeman and wounds two others on Paris' Champs-Elysees avenue Gunman Karim Cheurfi is killed by police and a note praising IS is found next to his body, with the group claiming responsibility.
A sea of floral tributes to the victims of the deadly attack on the Promenade des Anglais seafront which killed 84 people in Nice in July 2016
From left: Larossi Abballa, 25, who knifed a police officer to death in Paris in June 2016, Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel, who killed 86 people and injured more than 400 when he ploughed a truck through a large crowd in Nice in July 2016 and Radouane Lakdim, who killed four people in the southern towns of Trebes and Carcassonne, including policeman Lieutenant-Colonel Arnaud Beltrame who was hailed as a hero for taking the place of a hostage
2016 July 26: Two teenagers slit the throat of an 85-year-old priest in front of five worshippers at his church in the western town of Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray Abdel Malik Petitjean and Adel Kermiche, both aged 19, are killed by police. The murder is claimed by the IS. The teenagers had sworn allegiance to the group in a video.
2016 July 14: A Tunisian ploughs a truck through a large crowd gathered for Bastille Day fireworks on the Promenade des Anglais in the Mediterranean city of Nice. The attack kills 86 people and injures more than 400. The driver, Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel, 31, is shot dead by security forces. IS claims responsibility.
2016 June 13: Larossi Abballa, 25, uses a knife to kill a police officer and his partner at their home in Magnanville, west of Paris, in front of their young son Abballa is killed by a police SWAT team, but has already claimed the murders on social media in the name of IS.
2015 November 13: France is hit by the worst terror attacks in its history. IS jihadists armed with assault rifles and explosives strike outside a France-Germany football match at the national stadium, Paris cafes, and the Bataclan concert hall in a coordinated assault that leaves 130 people dead and more than 350 wounded.
2015 August 21: Passengers prevent a bloodbath on a high-speed Thalys train from Amsterdam to Paris, tackling a man who opened fire on travellers. He was armed with a Kalashnikov assault rifle, an automatic pistol and a box-cutter. The gunman is identified as 25-year-old Moroccan national Ayoub El Khazzani, known to intelligence services for links to radical Islam.
2015 June 26: Frenchman Yassin Salhi, 35, kills and beheads his boss and displays the severed head, surrounded by two Islamic flags, on the fence of a gas plant in Saint-Quentin-Fallavier in southeastern France. He tries to blow up the factory, but is arrested. He commits suicide in his jail cell.
2015 April 19: Sid Ahmed Ghlam, an Algerian IT student, is arrested on suspicion of killing a woman who was found shot dead in her car, and of planning an attack on a church in the Paris suburb of Villejuif. Prosecutors say they found documents about Al-Qaeda and IS at his home, and that he had been in touch with a suspected jihadist in Syria about an attack on a church.
2015 February 3: A knife-wielding man attacks three soldiers guarding a Jewish community centre in Nice. The 30-year-old assailant, Moussa Coulibaly, is arrested. In custody, he expresses his hatred for France, the police, the military and Jews.
2015 January 7-9: Two men armed with Kalashnikov rifles storm the Paris offices of satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo killing 12 people. A policewoman is killed just outside Paris the following day, while a gunman takes hostages at a Jewish supermarket, four of whom are killed. The attackers are killed in separate shootouts with police, but not before claiming allegiance to Al-Qaeda and the IS.
The terror attack follows a series of jihadist atrocities in France, which have seen almost 250 people murdered by terrorists since early 2015.
French Interior Minister Gerard Collomb is holding a special security meeting today to address the attack.
Mr Collomb said overnight that authorities are working to find anyone who might have helped the assailant.
A man from Luxembourg was among four people wounded in the attack.
The foreign ministry of the small country north of France said in a statement that the man was given emergency treatment and he's no longer in danger.
The attacker targeted five people and then fled, according to Paris police and a witness. When police officers arrived minutes later, he threatened them and was shot dead, according to police union official Yvan Assioma.
Bar patrons and opera-goers described surprise and confusion, and being ordered to stay inside while the police operation was under way on Rue Monsigny in the lively 2nd Arrondissement, or district, of the French capital.
'I was working in the restaurant and suddenly I heard a woman screaming... he came and attacked her,' said Jonathan, a witness working nearby who would not provide his surname.
'That's when the panic started, everyone started screaming and trying to reach our restaurant... The attacker just kept walking around with his knife in his blooded hands.'
The attacker targeted five people and then fled, according to Paris police and a witness. When police officers arrived minutes later, he threatened them and was shot dead, according to police union official Yvan Assioma. Pictured: A forensic officer at the scene last night
A forensic officer investigates at the scene last night. The Islamic State claimed responsibility, according to the SITE monitoring group
The initial attack took place on Rue Monsigny, in the 2nd arrondissement, where crowds were seen running away in panic. Pictured: Police and forensic officers at the scene last night
'Police were quickly on the scene, in less than five minutes. They encircled him and he tried to attack them with a knife but they shot him down,' he told reporters.
The Islamic State group's Aamaq news agency said the assailant carried out the attack in response to the group's calls for supporters to target members of the US-led military coalition squeezing the extremists out of Iraq and Syria. Aamaq did not provide evidence for its claim.
France's military has been active in the coalition since 2014, and IS adherents have killed more than 200 people in France in recent years.
Following last night's attack, an investigating source said: 'A 29-year-old man died after being stabbed by an assailant close to the Opera House.
'The attacker targeted an area full of restaurants and bars close. He shouted 'Kill me before I kill you' and also used the words Alluhu Akbar.
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