France: Police employee killed in knife attack at station

A female police officer was killed Friday in a knife attack at a police station in Rambouillet, a small town about 60 kilometers (37 miles) southwest of Paris.

The victim was a 49-year-old administrative employee who worked for the national police service, police officials told several news outlets. She was attacked in the entrance area of the police station at about 2:20pm local time (1220 GMT) when she was returning from her lunch break. 

The attacker was quickly shot and killed by police, police and prosecutors said. The attacker's motive was not immediately clear. BFM TV reported that the suspect was a French resident of Tunisian nationality, was not previously known to French security forces, and was born in 1984.

Anti-terrorism prosecutor Jean-Francois Ricard said his office took over the investigation because the attacker had staked out the station, because of what he had said during the attack, and because he targeted a police official. A source close to the inquiry told AFP that the suspect shouted "Allahu Akbar" ("God is great") during the stabbing.

The attack was in the same administrative region, Yvelines, where teacher Samuel Paty was beheaded after discussing cartoons that depicted the Muslim Prophet Muhammad in a class on free speech in France. The cartoons were cited by Islamist terrorists as a reason for their lethal attack on the offices of the satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo in 2015.

French President Emmanuel Macron alluded to Paty's murder in his response. 

"She was a police officer. Stephanie was killed at her station at Rambouillet, on the already soiled ground of Yvelines. The nation is at the side of her family, her colleagues and the security forces. In the fight against Islamist terrorism, we will concede nothing." 

Paty's murder also prompted Macron to set in motion new anti-radicalism legislation which courted criticism from some in the Muslim community.

Interior and prime ministers head to the scene

French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said he was traveling to the town.

"A police employee was the victim of a knife attack at the police station of Rambouillet," he said on Twitter.

Soon after, the French anti-terror police unit said it has opened an investigation into the incident. It has taken over the case.

"The Republic has just lost one of its everyday heroes, in a barabaric act of limitless cowardice," Prime Minister Jean Castex said on Twitter. "To our security forces, I wish to say that I share their emotion and their indignation."

He arrived in the town soon after the incident.

kbd/msh (Reuters, AFP, AP)