French police made an arrest today in connection with the stabbing of a French soldier on counter-terrorism patrol last week, with the suspect admitting his crime. The details released so far seem consistent with, if not conclusive of, the assualt being a jihadi attack in the vein of the murder (and attempted beheading) of a British soldier in Woolwich, London, a week ago today. A Paris prosecutor has revealed that “Alexandre” (as the suspect has been named) is almost 22 years old and converted to Islam around age 18. He reportedly follows a "traditionalist even radical Islam", according to unnamed sources close to the investigation. He also has a record in the national police database from an identity check for praying in the street in 2007. Notably, Alexandre was seen on surveillance footage performing a Muslim prayer less than ten minutes before the attack, leading the prosecutor to conclude that he acted on the based on his "religious ideology" -presumably jihadism.
However, Alexandre also has a record of petty crimes as a juvenile, and was reportedly homeless and unemployed before the attack. Beyond the (tenuous) 2007 identity check, the security services had no reason to connect him to radical Islamism. It is unclear how the identification of the suspect as a “convert” with a native French-sounding name interacts with the previous description of the attacker as a man of “North African origin”, and it is possible that this was a mischaracterization made due to his wearing of an Arab-style robe and beard.
French Defense Minister Jean-Yves has stated: "The aim was to kill the soldier because he was a soldier, to kill a soldier who is in charge of French security ".
Read more:
http://edition.cnn.com/2013/05/29/world/europe/france-stabbing-suspect/
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