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TERRORISM

Champs Elysees attacker’s father ‘threatens’ French police

The father of the gunman who killed a policeman in an attack on Paris's Champs Elysees this month was arrested after turning up drunk at a police station and threatening officers, a source close to the case said Saturday.

Published: 30 April 2017 10:05 CEST
Champs Elysees attacker's father 'threatens' French police
Police officers patrol near the site of the shooting at the Champs Elysees in Paris on April 20, 2017. Photo: Benjamin Cremel/AFP

His son, 39-year-old Karim Cheurfi, was killed in a firefight with police that sent tourists on the world-famous boulevard running for cover days before the first round of France's presidential election.

The father, who was not identified, “came to the police station (in Paris suburb Noisy-le-Grand) drunk and threatened police officers without weapons and without violence,” the source told AFP.

He was also angry that officials in Noisy-le-Grand and nearby Chelles had refused permission for his son to be buried in those towns, the source added. The father was arrested on Friday and was still in police custody on Saturday.

READ ALSO: Champs-Elysées gunman: An unstable criminal who 'hated French police'

The April 20 shooting, which the Islamic State (IS) group claimed as the work of one of its “fighters”, was the latest in a string of attacks that have claimed 239 lives around France since 2015.

The scenes of violence propelled security back to the fore in the presidential campaign after nine months of relative calm.

TERRORISM

Italian police arrest Algerian wanted for alleged IS ties

Police in Milan said on Thursday they had arrested a 37-year-old Algerian man in the subway, later discovering he was wanted for alleged ties to Islamic State.

Published: 9 November 2023 15:18 CET
Italian police arrest Algerian wanted for alleged IS ties

When stopped by police officers for a routine check, the man became “particularly aggressive”, said police in Milan, who added the arrest took place “in recent days”.

He was “repeatedly shouting ‘Allahu Akbar’ while attempting to grab from his backpack an object that turned out to be a knife with a blade more than 12cm (nearly five inches) long,” they said in a statement.

The man was later found to be wanted by authorities in Algeria, suspected since 2015 of belonging to “Islamic State militias and employed in the Syrian-Iraqi theatre of war,” police said.

Police said the suspect was unknown to Italian authorities.

The man is currently in Milan’s San Vittore prison and awaiting extradition, they added.

Jihadist group IS proclaimed a “caliphate” in 2014 across swathes of Syria and Iraq, launching a reign of terror that continues with hit-and-run attacks and ambushes.

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