Knifeman screaming 'Allahu Akbar' who stabbed police is NOT Islamist claim French prosecutors
A knifeman who stabbed two police officers while screaming "Allahu Akbar" is not an Islamist, French prosecutors have said.
On Monday, two officers were stabbed as they patrolled the Rue d’Austerlitz in Toulouse.
But the local prosecutor's office has now said the attack did not seem to have an "Islamist character".
Officers attempted to subdue the suspect, a 30-year-old Italian national, using batons.
After dropping a knife, the suspect pulled out a second, then a third, before being restrained.
An officer was stabbed in the neck and received several stitches as a result of the attack - with the knifeman believed to have tried and failed to sever his carotid artery.
A female officer attending the scene was stabbed three times, but her bulletproof vest prevented serious injury.
A third officer was present at the scene but was not injured.
Two police officers were attacked by a knife man shouting 'Allahu Akbar' near Toulouse in France on Monday (file photo)
The suspect has now been charged with attempted murder of three public officials.
He has now been placed in pretrial detention, according to the Toulouse Public Prosecutor's Office.
He also told investigators he had "obeyed voices".
On Monday, Interior Minister Laurent Nunez expressed support for the officers.
He added that prosecutors would do all they could to determine the circumstances and motives around the attack.
Local politician Emilion Esnault told La Depeche the officers had come "within a hair's breadth of the worst".
Just a few months ago, a man shouted "Allahu Akbar" at a railway station in Switzerland as he stabbed four people.
A spokesman for Zurich police at the time said one person had suffered serious injuries as a result of the stabbing.
An eyewitness told local media: "I arrived at the train station around 8.20am. I was on my way to the ZHAW to study.
"About 30 metres away, I heard a man behind me shout 'Allahu Akbar' five or six times in a very emotional and agitated manner."
The suspect was identified as Nesip Dedeler, a 31-year-old Swiss-Turkish citizen and had previously spread propaganda for Isis.