2 Injured in Knife Attack outside Charlie Hebdo's Former Office in Paris


TEHRAN (Tasnim) - At least two people were wounded in a knife attack Friday near the former offices of the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo in Paris, police said Friday. A suspect has been arrested.

Two victims were in a critical condition, the Paris police department said.

Police said one suspect had been detained after the attack, which occurred as the trial was underway for the alleged accomplices of the 2015 Charlie Hebdo attack.

A Paris police official said that while authorities initially thought two attackers were involved, they now believe it was only one person, who was detained near the Place de la Bastille in eastern Paris.

According to France 24, police initially announced that four people were wounded in the attack, but the official told The Associated Press that there are in fact only two confirmed wounded. Police could not explain the discrepancies.

“A serious event has taken place in Paris,” said French Prime Minister Jean Castex, who was addressing reporters when the attack occurred and cut short a visit to northern Paris to head instead to the crisis center of the interior ministry.

“Four people have been wounded and it seems that two are in a serious condition,” he said at that time.

The prime minister added the attack had taken place “in front of” the weekly’s former offices in the 11th district of central Paris. The magazine’s current address is kept secret for security reasons.

The stabbing came as a trial was underway in the capital for alleged accomplices of the authors of the January 2015 attack on Charlie Hebdo.

In September, the French satirical newspaper reprinted controversial caricatures in which it insulted the Great Prophet and Islam that prompted a deadly attack on the magazine in 2015.

The insulting move has drawn widespread condemnation and protests from the Muslim world.