The Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for a deadly knife attack carried out in central Paris late Saturday, according to the SITE monitoring group.
“The executor of the stabbing operation in the city of Paris is a soldier of the Islamic State and the operation was carried out in response to the calls to target the coalition states,” a “security source” told IS’s official Amaq news agency in an Arabic-language report.
The knifeman, shouting Allahu akbar, was shot dead by police after he killed one person and injured four, prompting a terror probe.
The attack took place near the city’s main opera house in an area full of bars, restaurants and theaters which were brimming on a weekend night.
The man attacked five people with a knife, one of whom died, police said. Two were in serious condition and all the victims are in hospital.
The attack comes as France is under a constant threat from terrorism. A string of jihadist attacks have claimed the lives of over 245 people around France in the past three years.