German tourist stabbed to death in central Paris, two injured

A person known to the French authorities as a radical Islamist with mental health issues stabbed a German tourist to death and wounded two people in central Paris on Dec 2 before being arrested, officials said.

The attack took place close to the Eiffel Tower during a busy weekend night and came with the country on its highest alert for attacks, as tensions rise amid the war between Israel and Hamas.

"We will not give in to terrorism," Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne wrote on X, formerly Twitter, after the attack.

President Emmanuel Macron said he was sending his condolences to the family of the 23-year-old German man killed in the "terrorist attack".

French anti-terror prosecutors said that they would now take on the investigation.

The attacker was known to the authorities as a radical Islamist and was being treated for mental illness, Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said at the scene by the River Seine, adding that the man had shouted "Allahu Akbar" (God is greatest) before being arrested.

He fatally stabbed the German tourist with a knife and then used a hammer to attack others as he sought to escape on the other side of the River Seine.

The area by the Bir-Hakeim bridge, usually crowded with tourists and locals, was cordoned off by police.