Radicalized man shot dead after attacking soldier at French airport

The French Interior Minister, Bruno Le Roux, confirmed reports that claimed that Belgacem shot an officer earlier that day.

A French official connected to the investigation confirms media reports identifying the Orly Airport attacker as Ziyed Ben Belgacem, a 39-year-old born in France. A police source described him as a radicalised Muslim.

France’s anti-terror prosecutors took over the case this morning and his father and brother handed themselves over to police who are questioning them.

After the attack he sent his family a text saying: “I’ve screwed up, I’ve shot a policeman”.

Paris prosecutors told reporters that Belgacem informed soldiers he wanted to die in the name of Allah.

“Given the violence that is shown in the (CCTV) pictures. you sense that he was determined to go through with it”.

The police evacuated the airport when the attack began, safeguarding over 3,000 people.

Another man said three soldiers were targeted, and they tried to calm the man who seized the weapon. Two soldiers then intervened, and fired eight bullets in three bursts at the man, killing him instantly.

He said the same man was also suspected of opening fire on police during a routine traffic inspection in the northern Paris suburb of Garges-les-Gonesse at around 7:00 am (0600 GMT). Belgacem had a criminal history and had been flagged for radicalism during his stay in prison. A man travelling by auto opened fire during a routine stop-and-search operation, slightly wounding one officer in the head, police said.

The stolen vehicle was later found at Paris Orly Airport – but not until Belgacem had been shot dead in the attempted attack.

Mr Molins said the assailant, who tried to grab the woman’s Famas assault rifle, seemed bent on carrying out a serious attack.

French President Francois Hollande’s office said in a statement that the government would “act relentlessly to fight terrorism, to defend the security of our compatriots and to ensure the protection of the territory”. No one was injured.

“Later we heard several shots”, a witness told RT outside the airport.

Flights were suspended from both terminals of the airport and some flights were diverted to Charles de Gaulle airport north of the capital, airport operator ADP said. He was wearing dark grey trousers and a white top.

A security operation is continuing at the airport with bomb disposal experts checking for any possible accomplices.

According to police, the man did not have any accomplices and no explosive devices were found at the airport. The national security operation was launched following the Paris terror attacks in January 2015. “He was quickly neutralized by security forces”.

In mid-February, a machete-wielding Egyptian man attacked a soldier outside Paris’s Louvre museum before being shot and wounded.