French anti-terrorism police are investigating an incident over the weekend at the Eiffel Tower, which marks the seventh terror incident in France this year.
According to terrorism expert Patrick Poole writing for PJ Media, a man brandishing a knife and shouting "Allah akhbar" crashed through a security barrier at Paris' iconic tourist attraction, reportedly intending to kill a soldier. The Eiffel Tower was evacuated by police, who ordered the intruder to drop his weapon. He did sp without attacking anyone.
The unidentified Mauritanian-born suspect, described as aged 18 and with "a history of psychological problems," later told investigators he had been in contact with a member of ISIS who encouraged the attack. He had been convicted in December of glorifying terrorism and making threats, but was given a suspended sentence at the time.
Poole notes that this is the seventh terrorist incident in France thus far in 2017:
February 3 (Paris - Louvre): A 29-year old Egyptian man, Abdullah Reda al-Hamamy, attacked police outside the Louvre Museum with a machete while shouting "Allah akhbar."March 18 (Paris - Orly Airport): Ziyed Ben Belgacem, a 39-year-old French-born Muslim of North African descent, attacked a three-man team of Air Force soldiers at Orly Airport.April 4 (Vaucouleurs): Sarah Lucy Halimi, a 66-year-old doctor and Orthodox Jew, was stabbed while in her bed, savagely beaten, and then thrown over her third-floor balcony by Kobili Traore, a 27-year-old African Muslim neighbor, while he shouted "Allah Akhbar" and recited Koranic verses.April 20 (Paris - Champs-Elysées): Police patrolling the Champs-Elysées shopping district in the heart of Paris were shot at by Karim Cheurfi with an AK-47; one of the officers was killed. Two other national police officers and a German tourist were severely injured. After Cheurfi had been shot and killed by police, a note praising ISIS was found on his body.June 6 (Paris - Notre Dame Cathedral): A police officer standing in the square in front of Notre Dame Cathedral was attacked by a 40-year-old Algerian PhD student, Farid Ikken, as he was shouting: "This is for Syria." After he had been shot by other police officers, he claimed to be a soldier of the Islamic State.June 19 (Paris - Champs-Elysées): Police were targeted again on the Champs-Elysées by 31-year-old Djaziri Adam Lotfi, who rammed his car into into a police vehicle, prompting the car to burst into flames. Lotfi was shot and killed by police. A search of his vehicle revealed an AK-47, handguns, a gas canister, and explosives... On the day of the attack, he had mailed claims of responsibility, while pledging allegiance to the Islamic State.
There have also been two terror plots thwarted this year in France:
April 18 (Marseille): Two men who had videotaped their allegiance to ISIS and are believed to have been planning a terror attack during the French presidential elections...May 31 (Bordeaux): A former GITMO detainee from Algeria, 48-year-old Sabir Mahfouz Lahmar, was arrested along with five accomplices in what police allege was an ISIS recruiting cell...
Click here for more details about the attacks and plots.
Patrick Poole also reports that French national security officials have increased the number of suspects on their terror watch list from 16,000 six months ago to 18,500 today.
