Terrorism invades France in the middle of the coronavirus crisis. While the French, confined for three weeks, had probably forgotten the terrorist threat, it suddenly comes to mind.
At around 10:45 a.m. this Saturday morning, Abdallah Ahmed-Osman, a 33-year-old Sudanese refugee, attacked seven people with knives in Romans-sur-Isère (Drôme). The balance sheet shows seven victims: two dead and five injured, including three in serious condition. The vital prognosis of two of them is engaged.
This Saturday evening, the national anti-terrorist prosecutor's office (PNAT) announced that it would take over the investigation, which is now open for "assassinations and attempted terrorist assassinations". The Lyon judicial police, the anti-terrorism sub-department and the General Directorate of Internal Security are responsible for the investigations.
VIDEO. Romans-sur-Isère: at least two dead and five injured in a knife attack
The first elements of the investigation "highlighted a murderous course determined to seriously disturb public order by terror", according to PNAT. During a search of his home were found manuscripts in which the author complains "of living in a land of disbelievers".
According to our information, the author also wrote in Arabic: "There is only God that God and Allah is his prophet". Tonight the assailant, unknown to the police and intelligence services, had not yet been interviewed. A second man, a 28-year-old Sudanese man, was also in police custody. This friend of the alleged terrorist was in the suspect's apartment in Romans-sur-Isère when the police came to search.
An attack of about fifteen minutes
The terrorist's murderous journey took place in the city center of Roman and lasted fifteen minutes. Near the Place Jean-Jaurès, the assailant first stabs a 65-year-old tobacconist in his establishment with a locking knife. The latter is among the injured in a very serious condition. His 49-year-old wife who intervened is also injured. The assailant abandoned his weapon on the spot then continued his journey in a butcher's shop, Cours Pierre-Didier.
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"He went over the counter, grabbed a butcher's knife, then planted a customer before running away," reports the trader. The latter, a 55-year-old man from Drôme, died. During his escape, the assailant then injured a 59-year-old former sales representative in front of a Carrefour supermarket and then went after a second 44-year-old man. This one, waiter in the restaurant cafe theater La Charrette, a famous place of Roman, died before the eyes of his 12 year old son who accompanied him. A few minutes later, the aggressor still attacked two other pedestrians in the middle of the street, a 63-year-old man and a 38-year-old woman, rue Guillaume and boulevard Marx-Dormoy.
The suspected terrorist was finally stopped in his deadly journey by a crew from the Romans urban security brigade. "Before being arrested, he got rid of his knife then knelt down and said the prayer in Arabic" reports the Parisian, David Olivier Reverdy, assistant national secretary of the Alliance union. According to the trade unionist, the attacker asked the police to kill him. Witnesses, very shocked, told the investigators to have heard the attacker shouting "Allahou akbar" (God is great).
Refugee status granted in 2017
During his arrest, the assailant introduced himself as a 33-year-old Sudanese refugee. In his pocket, the police found a residence permit in the name of Abdallah Ahmad-Osman, born in 1987 in Tendelty (Sudan). According to our information, the man has a refugee status which was granted to him in June 2017 and a resident title. It was followed by three different prefectures.
This knife attack comes while the authorities remained very mobilized on terrorism, even if no sniping had been carried out in the radicalized circles since mid-March, according to a judicial source.
"An odious act", denounced President Emmanuel Macron on Twitter ". In the afternoon, the Minister of the Interior Christophe Castaner went on the spot accompanied by Frédéric Veaux, the head of the national police.