Mother held as children are found with throats slit

Three French children died after they were found with their throats slit at their home near Paris on Friday, police said, adding that their absconding mother had been arrested in the capital.

Published: 22 February 2013 19:00 CET

Mother held as children are found with throats slit

File photo: Mike Fitzsimon

The doctor father of the children aged nine, 11 and 17 raised the alarm after returning home in the morning from work, police and judicial sources said.

"The children had their throats slit but we are still awaiting forensic reports," a judicial source said. The bodies of the nine-year-old girl and her 11-year-old brother showed multiple stab injuries.

The elder brother was found alive but later died of his injuries.

The killings took place in the suburban town of Dampmart, 30 kilometres east of Paris. The father was found in a state of shock and neighbours said he rushed out of his home screaming when he discovered the bodies.

A neighbour expressed shock, saying the family did not appear dysfunctional. "Everyone knew them here. It's unbelievable," said one, adding that the family was "discreet" and "had no problems."

However, investigators said the couple had been undergoing marital problems.

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“National police in Rouen neutralised early this morning an armed individual who clearly wanted to set fire to the city’s synagogue,” Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

Police responded at 6.45 am to reports of “fire near the synagogue”, a police source said.

A source close to the case told AFP the man “was armed with a knife and an iron bar, he approached police, who fired. The individual died”.

“It is not only the Jewish community that is affected. It is the entire city of Rouen that is bruised and in shock,” Rouen Mayor Nicolas Mayer-Rossignol wrote on X.

He made clear there were no other victims other than the attacker.

Two separate investigations have been opened, one into the fire at the synagogue and another into the circumstances of the death of the individual killed by the police, Rouen prosecutors said.

Such an investigation by France’s police inspectorate general is automatic whenever an individual is killed by the police.

The man threatened a police officer with a knife and the latter used his service weapon, said the Rouen prosecutor.

The dead man was not immediately identified, a police source said.

Asked by AFP, the National Anti-Terrorism Prosecutor’s Office said that it is currently assessing whether it will take up the case.

France has the largest Jewish community of any country after Israel and the United States, as well as Europe’s largest Muslim community.

There have been tensions in France in the wake of the October 7th attack by Palestinian militant group Hamas on Israel, followed by the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip.

Red hand graffiti was painted onto France’s Holocaust Memorial earlier this week, prompted anger including from President Emmanuel Macron who condemned “odious anti-Semitism”.

“Attempting to burn a synagogue is an attempt to intimidate all Jews. Once again, there is an attempt to impose a climate of terror on the Jews of our country. Combating anti-Semitism means defending the Republic,” Yonathan Arfi, the president of the Representative Council of Jewish Institutions of France (CRIF). wrote on X.

France was hit from 2015 by a spate of Islamist attacks that also hit Jewish targets. There have been isolated attacks in recent months and France’s security alert remains at its highest level.