On Monday evening, 29-years-old Youssef T. deliberately hit two police motorcyclists in Colombes, a suburb of Paris, leaving both police officers gravely injured, and one placed in a medically-induced coma.
“Two police motorcyclists in a serious condition after being deliberately hit in Colombes by an individual who also rammed a police car. Thoughts with our colleagues,” the police wrote on Twitter.
Video footage, which later appeared on the internet, showed that the attacker with his BMW hit not only the two motorbikes but also another police car.
According to Le Parisien, the attacker is a pro-Palestinian activist, who was sentenced to community service in 2010 for violent crimes.
One source told the French newspaper, ‘”One was trapped between a municipal police car and that of the madman,” referring to the suspected ISIS terrorist.
A Synergie police union spokesperson also said, “The perpetrator apparently has terrorist motivations which remains to be confirmed.
“In any event, those who stigmatize police officers and designate them as targets are very largely responsible for these acts.”
Le Parisien also reported that the attacker told the police before he was interrogated that he wants to watch videos about Gaza and Palestine, and also mentioned the Islamic State (ISIS). He also said, “I did it for ISIS” and swore allegiance to a terrorist group, according to investigators.
Investigators also conducted a search of his residence where Youssef T. left a handwritten letter in which he explains the reason behind the attack and indicates that he intended to die a martyr.
Authorities launched an investigation, which includes psychiatric tests and searches of the suspected ISIS terrorist.
The two police officers are currently in a struggle “between life and death”, according to Nicole Goueta, the mayor of Colombes.
France has in just the last month been the victim of Islamic terrorist violence and stabbing attacks from Middle Eastern and African migrants.
The country has been on terrorism alert since a wave of deadly jihadist bombings and shootings in Paris in 2015. Since the attack in Charlie Hebdo’s newsroom five years ago, France has faced a series of terrorist attacks that killed a total of 258 people.
