French police gun down man who seized soldier’s weapon at Paris airport
A man has been shot dead at an airport in the French capital of Paris after grabbing a soldier’s gun at the site.
The French Interior Ministry confirmed that the man in the Saturday incident at Paris’s Orly Airport had been killed.
“A man took a weapon from a soldier, then hid in a shop in the airport before being shot dead by security forces,” an unnamed ministry spokesman told AFP, stressing that no one else had been harmed in the incident.
The assailant was later identified as 39-year-old Frenchman Ziyed Ben Belgacem.
Police said Belgacem had had a record of criminal activities and had been known to authorities. Since September last year, he had been under judicial monitoring. He had also shown signs of radicalization, although there was no indication immediately that he had travelled abroad.
Meanwhile, a national police official, who spoke anonymously because he was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly, said it was unclear whether the assailant was acting alone.
Aviation authorities said air traffic had been suspended at the airport following the shooting.
Orly is Paris’ second-biggest airport and serves domestic and international flights, notably to destinations in Europe and Africa.
An incident of a similar nature took place at the Louvre Museum last month, when an Egyptian man attacked soldiers guarding the site and was shot and wounded.
The Saturday shooting comes as France remains in a state of emergency over terrorist attacks. The emergency state was initially imposed in November 2015, when terrorist attacks in and around Paris killed 130 people and injured 350 others.
The emergency rule has been extended several times because the French government believes the risk of terror attacks remains high.
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