French police speak on knifeman who killed 2 and injured others during attack

The police in France have determined the motive of a knifeman who killed two people and wounded five others in a knife attack in south-east France, in what the interior minister described as a terrorist incident.

The prosecutor’s office in a statement on Saturday said initial investigations suggest the attacker had “a determined murderous course aimed at seriously disturbing public order by intimidation or terror”.

During a search of the suspect’s home, “handwritten documents with religious connotations were found”, it said.

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At the time of his arrest, the attacker was “found on his knees on the pavement praying in Arabic”, prosecutors said.

According to eyewitnesses, the attacker entered a tobacconist in the town of Romans-sur-Isère, near Grenoble, and stabbed the owners and a customer and later went to a nearby butcher’s shop and attacked more people.

The man was not known to the police or intelligence services, news website France Bleu reported.

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