A policeman was shot dead and two others were seriously wounded after a drive-up-and-shoot attack on the Champs-Élysées in Paris on Thursday night. The Islamic State have claimed responsibility for the attack.
The Amaq news agency which is associated with the group claimed the attacker as one of its soldiers, Abu Yousif Al-Baljiki. The suspected assailant was killed by police.
President François Hollande said he was convinced the incident was a terrorist attack. The shooting, which occured just three days before the most tightly contested presidential election in living memory is being investigated by the counter-terrorism office.
Police have also issued an arrest warrant for a second suspect in the shooting, according to a document obtained by Reuters. The warrant said the man had arrived in France by train from Belgium. Pierre-Henry Brandet, the spokesman for the ministry of the interior said that just before 9pm “a vehicle stopped alongside a police van where policemen were stationed inside”
Police also searched the home of the assailant in the Seine-et-Marne department, east of Paris. A machine gun, two hand guns and three kilograms of TATP explosives, an Islamic State flag were found in the apartment.
