A suspected Islamist attacker stabbed a French police commander to death outside his home and later killed his partner in an attack claimed by Islamic State and denounced by the government as "an abject act of terrorism".
The attacker, a 25-year-old who went to jail in 2013 for helping Islamist militants go to Pakistan and had been monitored by security services, repeatedly knifed the 42-year-old commander in the stomach late on Monday.
He then barricaded himself inside the house in Magnanville, a suburb some 60 km west of Paris, taking the policeman's partner and three-year-old son hostage. His partner, an administrative police official, was found dead in the house. The boy was unharmed but in a state of shock, an Interior Ministry spokesman said.
The man, whom police and justice sources named as Larossi Abballa, was shot dead by members of an elite police unit after negotiations failed.
"An abject act of terrorism was carried out yesterday in Magnanville," Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said after an emergency government meeting, before heading out to Les Mureaux, where the police commander worked.
President Francois Hollande said the killings were "undeniably a terrorist act" and that the terrorist threat in France was very high.
The killings took place as police forces throughout France were on high alert for attacks during the Euro 2016 soccer tournament which began last week.
Islamic State claimed the attack via its Amaq news agency. "Source to Amaq agency: Islamic State fighter kills deputy chief of the police station in the city of Les Mureaux and his wife," Amaq said on its website.
If it is confirmed Islamic State was behind the murders, it would be the first militant strike on French soil since the government imposed a state of emergency after multiple attacks on Paris in November that killed 130 people.
Two French police killed in attack claimed by Islamic State
The attacker, a 25-year-old who went to jail in 2013 for helping Islamist militants go to Pakistan and had been monitored by security services, repeatedly knifed the 42-year-old commander in the stomach late on Monday.
He then barricaded himself inside the house in Magnanville, a suburb some 60 km west of Paris, taking the policeman's partner and three-year-old son hostage. His partner, an administrative police official, was found dead in the house. The boy was unharmed but in a state of shock, an Interior Ministry spokesman said.
The man, whom police and justice sources named as Larossi Abballa, was shot dead by members of an elite police unit after negotiations failed.
"An abject act of terrorism was carried out yesterday in Magnanville," Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said after an emergency government meeting, before heading out to Les Mureaux, where the police commander worked.
President Francois Hollande said the killings were "undeniably a terrorist act" and that the terrorist threat in France was very high.
The killings took place as police forces throughout France were on high alert for attacks during the Euro 2016 soccer tournament which began last week.
Islamic State claimed the attack via its Amaq news agency. "Source to Amaq agency: Islamic State fighter kills deputy chief of the police station in the city of Les Mureaux and his wife," Amaq said on its website.
If it is confirmed Islamic State was behind the murders, it would be the first militant strike on French soil since the government imposed a state of emergency after multiple attacks on Paris in November that killed 130 people.
Two French police killed in attack claimed by Islamic State
@ France having martial law while soccer hooligans tear shyt up on a daily basis