On Monday night, a Muslim man with reported links to ISIS broke into the home of a French police chief, executed his wife, and took his child hostage. Both the chief and his wife were killed in the attack after the terrorist stabbed them to death with a knife. The child was rescued by an elite French police unit.
The worst part of it all? The entire attack was broadcast live on Facebook.
According to French security officials, Abballa recorded a video of the knife-rampage on Facebook Live, and posted the clip on his profile under the pseudonym “Mohamed Ali.” The account was suspended shortly after the terrorist attack.
“In the 13-minute video Abballa could be seen stabbing the police commander and his partner to death outside their suburban Paris home as their three-year-old son watched in horror,” reports The Times of Israel. “During the attack, Abballa reportedly turned to the camera and pledged allegiance to the leader of the Islamic State group, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, saying that he was heeding the organization’s call for lone-wolf attacks during the month of Ramadan, which began last week. He then warned that Europe would become a ‘graveyard.’”
ISIS has not claimed explicit responsibility for the attack, but the group’s media outlet confirmed that one of its fighters executed an assault on Monday. It’s unclear if the two are linked.
Two suspects affiliated with the attacker have been arrested so far in France. Police haven’t released any details about their alleged involvement in the attack.
French President Francois Hollande made clear that Monday’s attack was “incontestably a terrorist act,” adding that his country faces a jihadist scourge “of a very large scale.”
The terror attack occurred just one day after the massacre at a gay club in Orlando that left 50 people dead and 53 others injured. Hollande highlighted the connection at a security meeting on Tuesday. “France is not the only country concerned (by the terrorist threat), as we have seen, again, in the United States, in Orlando,” he noted.
“Incontestably a terrorist act.”
French President Francois Hollande
Pledging to leave no stone left unturned, Hollande assured the public that he would step up already heightened security measures. In the last few days, France has boosted security reinforcements at public venues in anticipation of the Euro Cup 2016 games.
Since the massive terror attack in November, France has been in a state of uninterrupted “high alert,” bracing itself for more imminent attacks.