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Police secure the crime scene near the Bir-Hakeim metro station in Paris

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Stephanie Lecocq / REUTERS

After the terrorist attack on the Eiffel Tower in Paris, in which a German-Filipino tourist was killed, the German Federal Prosecutor's Office has initiated an investigation. This was confirmed by a spokesman for the Federal Prosecutor General in Karlsruhe to SPIEGEL. The suspect, a 26-year-old French Islamist, is being investigated on suspicion of membership in a terrorist organization in conjunction with murder.

The jurisdiction of the Office of the Attorney General resulted from the fact that the victim of terrorism had German nationality. The proceedings are running in parallel with the investigations carried out by the French authorities.

On Saturday evening, an Islamist killed a German tourist with a knife not far from the Eiffel Tower. Two other people were injured.

According to French Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin, the alleged attacker first attacked a foreign tourist couple with a knife and stabbed the man to death. Thanks to the intervention of a taxi driver, his companion remained unharmed.

Attack with a hammer

According to Darmanin, the perpetrator fled to the other side of the Seine and attacked two other people with a hammer. A 60-year-old Frenchman was injured, according to the latest information from judicial circles, a 66-year-old British tourist suffered a shock. Shortly after, the attacker was overpowered by the police.

According to information from French judicial circles, the victim is a tourist born in 1999, who had both German and Filipino citizenship.

According to police sources, the attacker is said to have shouted "Allahu Akbar" (God is great) during his act. The 26-year-old Frenchman was subdued with a stun gun and arrested for murder and attempted murder. The National Anti-Terrorism Prosecutor's Office has taken over the investigation.

According to Darmanin, the attacker had a criminal record. He was sentenced to five years in prison in 2016 for planning another attack, of which he served four years. After his crime, he stated that he could not bear to see Muslims being killed in "Afghanistan and Palestine." He expressed anger at the Gaza war and that France was Israel's "accomplice" in it.

Police sources said that the French-born son of Iranian parents was known as a radical Islamist. He had suffered from mental health problems, was "very unstable" and had therefore received psychiatric treatment during and after his detention.

According to the French anti-terrorism prosecutor's office on Sunday evening, a video claiming responsibility was found. According to »Le Parisien«, the alleged perpetrator swore allegiance to the terrorist organization »Islamic State« (IS). In it, he is said to claim that he is acting to "avenge the Muslims".

srö/wow/dpa