Thursday, two young women close to the assailant killed after the knife attack in Paris were arrested, while the friend was indicted and incarcerated.
The investigation into the jihadist knife attack on Saturday night in Paris accelerated on Thursday. The assailant’s friend was indicted and incarcerated and two women from their entourage were arrested .
Armed with a kitchen knife, the attacker, Khamzat Azimov, a Chechen-born Frenchman who was followed for radicalization, killed a 29-year-old passer-by and wounded five others in the Opera district. before being shot by the police. The Islamic State (IS) group claimed responsibility for the attack.
After four days in custody, one of his friends, Abdul Hakim A., a 20-year-old Franco-Russian arrested Sunday in Strasbourg, was presented Thursday to an investigating judge who indicted him for “association of terrorist criminals to prepare crimes of attacks on people, “according to a judicial source.
No criminal record
As requested by the Paris public prosecutor’s office, he was remanded in custody. The young man, who was followed for Islamist radicalization since 2016, is very close to the author of the attack, whose family has lived in Strasbourg for several years. Both had no criminal record.
“The investigators are trying to find out if he was able to influence his jihadist quest Khamzat Azimov, or even have knowledge of the project of the latter,” said a source close to the investigation.
Abdul Hakim A. challenged “any participation” or “involvement” in the preparation or commission of the attack as well as “any recent connection” with his friend, said the Paris prosecutor François Molins, during a conference Press.
One of the women tried to leave for Syria
The prosecutor also announced the arrest on Thursday in Paris of two young women “close” to Abdul Hakim A. and Khamzat Azimov, within the framework of the judicial investigation open notably for assassination and assassination attempts in connection with a company terrorist.
One of them, Inès Hamza, is a young radicalized Francilienne who had religiously married Abdul Hakim before attempting to go to Syria, AFP learned from concordant sources. The other woman is one of her friends, according to a source close to the survey.
In January 2017, Ines Hamza was indicted for criminal conspiracy and released under judicial supervision in an investigation in Paris where three other women are involved, according to sources close to the investigation.
During a search of the home of Abdul Hakim A., seven phones were seized but the laptop he used most often can not be found.
He told the investigators that he had lost the morning of his arrest, but investigations revealed that he had sent his sister, on the night of the attack, on the WhatsApp instant messaging application, “a song jihadist, often taken over by the Islamic State, “said the prosecutor of Paris.
The investigators also placed Khamzat Azimov’s parents in custody on Sunday, but they were released on Tuesday.
“Simple profile”
At his press conference, the prosecutor also said that the attack on Saturday had 5 wounded, including 2 serious, not 4 as indicated so far. The assailant caused “ten wounds” to the dead young man, Ronan Gosnet, one of whom is “consistent with a throating attempt,” Molins said.
On Wednesday, Interior Minister Gérard Collomb described the attacker, who was stumped for Islamist radicalization, as “a somewhat lonely person” with a “relatively simple profile”.
This attack, which has brought to 246 the number of people killed in the wave of jihadist attacks that affects France since 2015, has once again relaunched the debate around the tracking of individuals stolen by the intelligence services.
The President of the Front National has denounced S cards that are “useless”, while the party Republicans (LR) has proposed the internment of preventive manner S “most dangerous”.
“Today, it is no longer the top of the spectrum that takes action, that is to say, those we followed more closely. (…) This one, for example, he goes to the act with the kitchen knife of his mother, “retorted Mr. Collomb.
In total, 51 attacks have been foiled since January 2015, said Prime Minister Edouard Philippe late March.
