Six people have been injured in a knife attack at the Gare du Nord railway station in Paris during rush hour on Wednesday.
The incident occurred shortly before 6:45 a.m., with CCTV footage capturing the moment a man stabbed a passer-by at the entrance of the train station before chasing his victim into the terminal and attacking five others.
According to French media, the assailant stabbed his first victim 15 times before entering the station and indiscriminately targeting four civilians and a police officer.
It is understood the officer who was attacked was stabbed in the back but was not seriously wounded because he was wearing a bulletproof vest.
One victim suffered life-threatening injuries and has been hospitalized, while others are understood to have been treated at the scene.
The attacker was shot multiple times by plain-clothes police officers and neutralized. He is under hospital arrest and is understood to be in critical condition.
“An individual injured several people this morning at the Gare du Nord. He was quickly neutralized,” tweeted French Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin on Wednesday. “Thank you to the police for their effective and courageous response,” he added.
No motive, if any, has yet to be established for the attack.
“What is reported is that there was a determined individual who repeatedly attacked a person. The investigation will say if it was random or if it was targeted,” said the deputy Paris mayor, Julien Bayou.
According to Darmanin, the weapon used in the attack was not a knife “but an obviously dangerous weapon that he would have made himself.”
French newspaper Le Figaro reported that the suspect confirmed his name as Amine M., while Le Parisien reported the suspect told police he was of Algerian nationality.
However, in an update provided by police on Thursday, the suspect is a Libyan national who was born in 2000 and arrived in France three years ago. He is under an obligation to leave French territory (OQTF) and was already known to police.
A criminal investigation has been launched by Paris’ public prosecutor. The national anti-terrorist prosecutor’s office is following the situation closely but has not yet been summoned to intervene, reported French broadcaster BFMTV.
Rail departures at the station were initially suspended but some have since resumed.
