The radicalised perpetrator of a knife attack on Saturday near the Eiffel Tower in which one person was killed and two others were injured has claimed responsibility for his act, a source close to the investigation said on Monday.
The attack took place around 20:30 GMT in a popular tourist spot in the French capital, near the Bir Hakeim bridge across the Seine.
The victim, a 23-year-old tourist of both German and Philippine nationality, was fatally wounded, receiving “two hammer blows and four knife stabs,” the prosecutor said.
The assailant also attacked two other men with a hammer, a 60-year-old Frenchman and a 66-year-old Briton, causing minor injuries.
Authorities subdued the attacker with a taser shortly after the attack.
Armand Rajabpour-Miyandoab, a 26-year-old Franco-Iranian who recently pledged allegiance to the Islamic State, has admitted to the attack and said he stood fully behind it, according to an investigation source.
The statement from the source suggested that the perpetrator likely acted alone.
Rajabpour-Miyandoab claimed his actions were in response to global persecution of Muslims. During custody he appeared “very cold,” “clinical,” and “detached,” according to the source.
In late October, Rajabpour-Miyandoab’s mother had voiced concern about his increasingly extremist behaviour.
The suspect had been flagged for Islamic radicalisation and was released in 2020 after a five-year prison sentence for planning a violent action. He had also undergone psychiatric care.
The German federal prosecutor on Monday announced the launch of an investigation into the attack, since the victim was a German national.
