Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne has placed France on its highest state of counter-terrorism alert following a knife attack in the northern town of Arras, in which one person was killed and three others wounded, her office reported on Friday evening.
The French Prime Minister decided to place the country on ‘urgence attentat’ (‘attack emergency’) against a backdrop of fears that the conflict between Israel and Hamas might be imported into France.
Prime Minister Borne “has decided to raise the Vigipirate [national security] posture to the attack emergency level,” Matignon said after a security meeting at the Elysée between the Prime Minister and President Emmanuel Macron.
The 'urgence attentat' alert level can be activated in the immediate aftermath of an attack, or if an unidentified and unlocated terrorist group goes into action.
The attack on Friday morning at a high school in Arras came amid rising tensions in France's Muslim and Jewish communities, due to the conflict between Israel and Hamas.
Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin said there was "no doubt" that there was a link between the attack and the Israel-Hamas conflict.
The attacker, a 20-year-old Russian of Chechen origin, was known to the security services for his involvement with Islamist extremism, according to police sources.
