'Radical Muslim who stabbed French soldier was known to intelligence'
A 21-year-old arrested on suspicion of stabbing a French soldier in the neck in Paris was flagged up to French intelligence months ago over fears he has been radicalised, it has been claimed.
CCTV image of the 22-year-old French suspect, identified only by his first name Alexandre, suspected of having carried out the attack Photo: Reuters
By Henry Samuel, Paris
6:37PM BST 29 May 2013
Alexandre D, as the French suspect has been called, was arrested in Yvelines, just west of Paris early on Wednesday morning at a friend's flat.
Police are seeking to determine whether the Paris attack might have been inspired by the Islamist murder of a British serviceman in London, although sources told Le Monde newspaper that French intelligence was recently warned the suspect, who converted to Islam around three years ago was "becoming increasingly radical".
The warning came in a note written by the police intelligence unit of the Yvelines area where Alexandre was arrested.
The note provides a fairly detailed account of the suspect's evolution towards a more radical form of Islam since 2009, pointing out that police had remarked he had "suspicious behaviour". Homeless and unemployed, Alexandre D applied for jobs in Rambouillet where he "demanded not to work with women". His passport included stamps from a host of countries.
The suspect as he is escorted to the police headquarters in Paris (AFP)
The suspect also came under scrutiny after a street prayer in 2007 while authorities had his DNA profile on record after a series of petty rimes as a minor.
Detectives identified the suspect thanks to video footage, in which he can be seen praying near the crime scene eight minutes before the attack, as well as buying two knifes an hour before the attack. DNA was also found on items left at the scene in a plastic bag, including a knife and a fruit juice bottle.
"He owned up to the attack" shortly after his arrest, said Paris prosecutor François Molins, who added that he "acted in the name of his religious ideology".
The prosecutor denounced the tall, bearded suspect's "quite clear intention to kill" French serviceman Cédric Cordiez, 23, who was attacked from behind with a "Laguiole-type knife" on Saturday in Paris. He said the suspect had shown "impressive determination" in stabbing his victim "several times", narrowly missing his carotid artery.
In a statement, Manuel Valls, the interior minister, praised the swift arrest, saying an inquiry by anti-terror prosecutors would elucidate "the environment and motivations of this young man".
Mr Cordiez was released from a military hospital on Monday morning and rejoined his unit, military officials said.
France has been on high alert for attacks by Islamist militants since its military intervention against Islamist rebels in Mali in January. That prompted threats against French interests from AQIM, the North African wing of al Qaeda.
This week, four suspected accomplices of Toulouse gunman Mohamed Merah were arrested in Toulouse. The 23-year-old's al-Qaeda-inspired shooting spree last year left seven people dead, in a wake up call to the threat of home-grown Islamist terrorism.
Mr Valls warned that there were "several dozen, or even several hundred potential Merahs in our country" - young people "who have already had trouble with the justice system over delinquency" and who "become radicalised" after contact with extremist Imams.
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