A Sudanese refugee went on a knife rampage in a town in southeastern France on Saturday, killing two people in what is being treated as a terrorist attack.
The attack in broad daylight, which President Emmanuel Macron called “an odious act,” took place with the country on lockdown in a bid to stem the spread of the deadly coronavirus.
Counter-terrorism prosecutors have launched an investigation into “murder linked to a terrorist enterprise” after the rampage in a string of shops in Romans-sur-Isere, a riverside town with a population of about 35,000.
The assailant, identified only as Abdallah A.-O., a refugee in his 30s from Sudan who lives in the town, was arrested without a fight by police.
“He was found on his knees on the pavement praying in Arabic,” the prosecutor’s office said.
According to witnesses cited by local radio station France Bleu Drome Ardeche, he shouted “Allah Akbar!” (God is Greatest) as he stabbed his victims.
“Anyone who had the misfortune to find themselves in his way were attacked,” town mayor Marie-Helene Thoraval told AFP.
David Olivier Reverdy, from the National Police Alliance union, said the assailant had called on police to kill him when they came to arrest him.
The country has been on terror alert since a wave of deadly jihadist bombings and shootings in Paris in 2015.
In all, 258 people have been killed in France in what have been deemed terrorist attacks.