A French soldier was stabbed in the back by a Congolese-born migrant at the Gare de l’Est in Paris on Monday evening.
The attack occurred shortly before 10 p.m. local time when the 40-year-old perpetrator drove a knife between the shoulder blades of the soldier who was patrolling the French capital as part of the Opération Sentinelle counter-terror initiative.
The attacker was swiftly arrested and remains in custody.
The victim was escorted by the emergency services to a hospital located at the Percy Army Training Center in Clamar (Hauts-de-Seine). He is understood to be in a stable condition.
As cited by the Actu17 news outlet, a source close to the ongoing police investigation said the attacker’s motivation for the stabbing was retaliation for French military operations in his home country.
“He said he acted because soldiers are killing people in his country, Congo,” the unnamed source told French media.
The suspect is known to the authorities, having previously been arrested back in January 2018 in relation to the murder of a young man who was stabbed in Châtelet-Les-Halles. The Congolese migrant was “declared irresponsible because of his state of mental health” after the suspect was diagnosed with various psychiatric disorders, Actu17 reported.
The Paris prosecutor’s office announced an investigation into attempted murder had been opened.
“An umpteenth knife attack injured a soldier last night at the Gare de l’Est in Paris,” tweeted firebrand nationalist politician Marine Le Pen. “Hoping that he recovers quickly, my thoughts are with his family and all the security forces who ensure our protection every day in increasingly alarming security conditions,” she added.
“A soldier from Operation Sentinelle was stabbed while patrolling the Gare de l’Est station in Paris. His prognosis is not life-threatening. The perpetrator was arrested,” confirmed Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin.
