German tourist killed and two injured after knife and hammer attack in Paris

One person died and two others were injured after a man attacked tourists in central Paris near the Eiffel Tower on Saturday night. Police quickly arrested the 26-year-old man, a French national, using a Taser stun gun.

The suspect had been sentenced to four years in prison in 2016 for planning another attack and was on the French security services' watch list. He was also known for having psychiatric disorders, French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said.

The attack took place around 1900 GMT in the French capital when the man attacked a tourist couple with a knife on the Quai de Grenelle, a few feet away from the Eiffel Tower, mortally wounding a German national. He was then chased by police and attacked two other people with a hammer before being arrested.

The suspect had shouted out "Allahu Akbar" (God is greatest) and told police he was upset because "so many Muslims are dying in Afghanistan and in Palestine" and was also distressed by the Gaza situation, Darmanin added.

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The anti-terrorism prosecutor's office said it was in charge of the investigation.

French President Emmanuel Macron sent his condolences to the family of the German man killed and thanked the emergency services. Macron added: "The national anti-terrorist prosecutor's office will now be responsible for shedding light on this affair so that justice can be done in the name of the French people."

Darmanin said the German victim, born in 1999, was with his wife when he was attacked and fatally stabbed. He said the wife's life was saved by the intervention of a taxi driver and that the suspect fled across a nearby bridge spanning the River Seine.

Saturday night's incident in central Paris occurred less than eight months before the French capital hosts the Olympic Games and could raise questions about security at the global sporting event.

Paris plans an unprecedented opening ceremony on the Seine river that may draw as many as 600,000 spectators.

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