A man screaming, “Allahu Akbar!” fatally stabbed a French female cop in the throat at a police station near the famed Rambouillet Chateau about an hour outside center-city Paris, authorities said Friday.
The attacker was then killed.
The fatal encounter unfolded just after 2 p.m. Friday in the quiet commune southwest of France’s capital city, according to authorities.
The female officer, a 49-year-old mother of two, was returning from lunch when she was stabbed twice in the neck, France 24 reported.
Authorities were probing whether the attack was linked to terrorism after the 36-year-old attacker was reported to have yelled “Allahu Akbar!” or “God is great!” during the fatal incident, according to the BBC.
The man, whose name was not released, had come to the country from Tunisia a few years ago, the outlet reported.
The slain officer was 49 years old and worked as an administrative employee at the police station, which is just a short walk from the renowned 14th-century chateau, authorities said.
After the attack, France’s president, Emmanuel Macron, tweeted, “In our fight against Islamist terrorism, we will never give in.”
France has suffered from a number of terrorist attacks targeting police officers over the last few years, some of which were linked back to Islamic extremists.
“We are in a state of astoundment,” Karl Olive, vice president of the regional council, said on BFM television.
With The Associated Press
