One killed and several police officers injured in French 'Islamist' knife attack

One person was killed and several police officers injured in a knife attack in eastern France on Saturday, according to French authorities.

A 37-year-old Algerian man was arrested at the scene and is being held in custody, officials said.

The man, who was on a terrorism watch list, shouted “Allahu Akbar” [Arabic for ‘God is the greatest’] as he launched the attack in the city of Mulhouse at a demonstration against the war in the Democratic Republic of Congo on Saturday afternoon.

France’s anti-terrorism prosecutor’s office confirmed that the incident was being investigated as an act of terrorism.

A passer-by was killed while trying to intervene and at least two police officers were seriously injured, the prosecutor’s office said. Three other officers were lightly wounded.

“It is without any doubt an act of Islamist terrorism,” French President Emmanuel Macron told reporters at the annual French farm show shortly after the attack.

He said “the solidarity of the nation” was with the victims and their families.

“I want to reiterate the determination of the government, and mine, to continue the work to eradicate terrorism on our soil,” he added.

The victim was a 69-year-old Portuguese man, the anti-terrorism prosecutor’s office said.

Nicolas Heitz, the Mulhouse prosecutor, said the man had been stabbed in the throat, as had a municipal police officer who was in intensive care.

The attacker, who has not been identified by authorities, was on a file containing suspects said to have been “radicalised as terrorists,” Mr Heitz said.

He did not have settled status in France and was due to be deported, having been under judicial supervision and house arrest after being convicted of “showing sympathy for terrorism” in the past.

“Horror has just gripped our city,” Michele Lutz, Mayor of Mulhouse said on Facebook.

French Prime Minister François Bayrou wrote on X that “fanaticism has struck again and we are in mourning”.

“My thoughts naturally go to the victims and their families, with the firm hope that the injured will recover.”

It follows a spate of bomb, knife and gun attacks across France in recent years.