Man in fake explosives vest killed amid high Paris tension
PARIS (AP) — Police shot and killed a man wearing a fake explosive vest who threatened them with a butcher knife at a Paris police station Thursday, a year almost to the minute after two Islamic extremists burst into the offices of the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo, killing 11 people and unleashing a bloody 12 months in the French capital.
The Paris prosecutor’s anti-terrorism unit opened an investigation after police found a cell phone, a piece of paper with an emblem of the Islamic State group, and “an unequivocal written claim of responsibility in Arabic” with the man’s body, the prosecutor’s office said. It did not provide details about the claim.
France has been under a state of emergency since a series of attacks claimed by the Islamic State group killed 130 people in Paris on Nov. 13, and tensions increased this week as the anniversary of the January attacks approached. Soldiers were posted in front of schools and security forces were more present than usual amid a series of tributes to the dead.
Officials said the man shot to death Thursday threatened officers at the entrance of a police station near the Montmartre neighborhood, home to the Sacre Coeur Cathedral. Just moments before, French President Francois Hollande, speaking in a different location, paid respects to officers fallen in the line of duty.
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