Attack on French soldier in mall ‘Islamic extremism’ say officials

Traces of DNA on an orange juice bottle and a surveillance video of a man praying in a mall led to the arrest of the man in connectiion with the attack on Private Cédric Cordier on Saturday.

The uniformed soldier was patrolling a crowded area just outside Paris when he was slashed in the throat by an assailant who came from behind as he was on group patrol in a crowded commercial area just outside Paris, where train lines converge on a busy shopping mall

The attack triggered a three-day manhunt that came to an end in the early hours of yesterday morning.

The 22-year-old Frenchman arrested in the town of Verriere outside Paris, was identified by the authorities only by his first name Alexandre.

The suspect was captured on camera offering a Muslim prayer in a corner of a busy shopping mall 10 minutes before he launched his attack on the soldier at the La Defense financial and shopping district, French prosecutor Francois Molins said.

He bought the orange juice and the pocketknife used in the attack an hour beforehand, Mr Molins said. “The intent to kill is obvious. The suspect doesn’t hesitate to stab several times with impressive determination.”

The 25-year-old French soldier is recovering from his injuries and has been released from the hospital and has returned to his unit but given time off his duties.

“The suspect implicitly confessed when he told police ‘I know why you’re here,’” Mr Molins said.

The attack on Private Cordier came days after Drummer Lee Rigby was killed in London, raising fears of potential copycat strikes.

France has also been on heightened security alert since its military intervention in January in the African nation of Mali to oust Islamic radicals.

“The nature of the attack, the fact that it happened three days after the London attack and a prayer that was carried shortly before the attack make us believe that he acted in the name of his religious ideology and that his wish was to attack someone representing the state,“ Mr Molins added.

The suspect, who was unemployed and homeless, was identified through DNA he had left on a plastic juice bottle.

Mr Molins said the man came under scrutiny after a street prayer in 2007 and authorities had his DNA profile on record after a series of petty crimes as a minor.

He converted to radical Islam around age 18.

Under French anti-terrorism law, he can be held for 96 hours without charge.

Interior Minister Manuel Valls said the suspect was known to investigators but there was no immediate confirmation of any link between the French suspect and the London attack.

“We have to learn more about his motivations, his record, his background,” he said.

French security forces have been on heightened alert since the military intervened in the African nation of Mali in January to regain territory seized by Islamic radicals.

Yet even before the French military action in Mali, French soldiers were considered possible targets at home by local radicals.

Last year, three French paratroopers were shot dead, one outside a gym and the other two outside a shopping centre, by a French-born Islamic extremist.

Mohamed Merah went on to attack a Jewish school in southern France, killing a rabbi and three Jewish children in March 2012 before being killed later that month in a gun battle with police after a 30-hour siege.

“Members of the military know they have to be on guard,” Mr Valls said.