French police attacker inspired by ISIS made pre-attack call to pledge allegiance

The trainee soldier warned there would be ‘carnage’ at a gendarmerie barracks

The man was shot by a gendarme after attacking him with a knife. AFP

A knife attack at a French police barracks was carried out by a trainee soldier who stabbed officers having reportedly made a phone call to say he was inspired by ISIS.

It follows a recent spate of knife attacks across Europe by extremists seemingly motivated or claimed by terror groups.

There are fears that recent statements by ISIS and Al Qaeda could be causing such attacks with the latter releasing a video on Sunday calling for stabbings with household knives in message seemingly directed at Western Muslims.

The knifeman, who is in hospital, wounded one officer in Dieuze, eastern France in the hand before being shot.

Shortly before the attack, a call was placed to the police from someone saying he was in the armed forces and was preparing an attack in Dieuze in the name of ISIS, local media reported.

Prosecutor Christian Mercuri said the attacker had declared he was a member of ISIS and that there was going to be “carnage” at a gendarmerie barracks in Dieuze.

"It's been confirmed that the attacker was a young soldier, two months into initial training and currently in his probationary period," Armed Forces Minister Florence Parly wrote on Twitter.

"He was not on duty at the time of the incident.”

Monday's attack at the barracks is likely to again raise questions about how France can guard against radicalised individuals entering its security services.

In October last year, Mickael Harpon, an information technology assistant at police headquarters in central Paris, went on a knife rampage inside the building, killing four people before being shot dead.

A convert to Islam, Harpon had shown signs of possible radicalisation before the attack but no formal investigation was launched and he kept his job.

The attack in Dieuze came only a day after a convicted terrorist stabbed two people in a street in south London despite having only being released days before. The attack by Sudesh Amman, who was shot dead by plain clothed officers, was claimed by ISIS on Monday.

In late November a man released from prison in 2018 after serving a sentence on terrorism charges stabbed two people to death on London Bridge. He was also shot dead.

Boris Johnson’s Conservative government has said it will introduce emergency legislation this week to stop the early release of convicted terrorist following the attack by Amman.