PARIS – Two people were injured in a town in southern France on Sundaywhen a woman shouting “Allahu akbar” (God is greatest) attacked two peoplein a supermarket with a boxcutter, prosecutors said.
A man was struck in the chest during the late-morning attack in LaSeyne-sur-Mer, outside the Mediterranean port of Toulon, but the wound isnot life-threatening, prosecutor Bernard Marchal told AFP.
A woman working at a checkout counter was also wounded, though not asseriously. Both victims were taken to hospital.
“It appears to be an isolated case by a person with known psychologicalproblems,” Marchal said, “though that doesn’t exclude the possibility thatshe may have been radicalised.”
France has been on high alert following a string of jihadist attacks sinceearly 2015, often by people who have become radicalised or claim to haveacted in the name of the Islamic State group.
The 24-year-old assailant, who did not have a police record, wasoverpowered by others in the supermarket and has been taken into custody.
Police later searched her home to determine if she had any links to theIslamic State group.
“We don’t yet know if this is a terrorist act, but in any case it wasterrifying,” Marchal said.
More than 240 people have been killed in jihadist attacks since themassacre at the Charlie Hebdo satirical magazine in Paris in January 2015.
Last month a knifeman shouting “Allahu akbar” killed one person and woundedfour others during a Saturday night attack in a bustling Parisneighbourhood. – APP/AFP