Reports have it that a “terrorist” has been shot dead as he ran towards Paris police station while wearing a fake suicide belt and shouting ‘Allahu Akbar’ on anniversary of Charlie Hebdo attack.
An armed man carrying a letter where he pledged allegiance to ISIS and wearing a fake suicide belt has been shot dead trying to attack a police station in Paris.
According to reports, the man had been trying to enter the police station in Barbes, northern Paris, shouting ‘Allahu Akbar’ and threatening officers with a knife on the anniversary of the deadly Charlie Hebdo terrorist attacks.
A Paris prosecutor said in a statement that the terrorist was carrying a mobile phone and a sheet of paper showing the black flag of ISIS, and claims of responsibility written in Arabic.
“A mobile phone and a piece of paper, on which appear the Daesh flag and a clear written claim in Arabic, were found on the individual,” prosecutor Francois Molins said, referring to the Arabic acronym for ISIS.
According to French officials, the man was wearing a belt made out to look like a suicide vest, but a bomb-disposal unit has since confirmed that it was a fake.
Police have cleared hundreds of people from the neighborhood, an area where a significant percentage of residents have multi-ethnic or immigrant background, amid fears that other assailants could be at large.
“The man did have a belt, but it was a fake. The bomb-disposal unit confirmed it was a fake,” the police union source said. A Paris police official said police are viewing the incident as ‘more likely terrorism’than a standard criminal act.
Luc Poignant, a police union official, said the man may have been wearing an explosives vest, and cried out‘Allahu Akbar’ or ‘God is great’ in Arabic.
A witness said he had heard ‘two or three shots’ shortly before 11am GMT, before the man was on the ground.
Source: Mailonline.
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