The Slatest

Armed Man Attacks Soldier Near the Louvre in an Incident France Calls “Terrorist in Nature”

People stand in front of the Louvre museum on Friday in Paris after a soldier shot and gravely injured a man who tried to attack him.

Alain Jocard/AFP/Getty Images

An armed man attacked a French solider near the Louvre on Friday morning. France’s prime minister, Bernard Cazeneuve, said that the attack was “terrorist in nature.” The solider shot and seriously injured the man. From the Washington Post:

The man was armed with at least one machete and carrying two briefcases as he attempted to enter the museum’s shopping center. When he was refused entry to the shopping center, the man pulled out a knife and attacked the soldier, yelling “Allahu akbar,” AFP reported, meaning “God is great” in Arabic. The soldier responded by firing five rounds into the attacker’s stomach, France’s interior ministry tweeted.

Reuters and CNN both report that the bags were not briefcases but backpacks. Reuters reports that the man “rushed at police and soldiers before being shot.” The attacker and another person potentially connected with the attack have been arrested by French authorities. The soldier was mildly wounded.

About 3,500 soldiers have been posted around important sites in Paris to counter a wave of terrorist attacks that have recently hit France. Reuters reports that 230 people have been killed in France by ISIS-connected attacks over the past two years.

On Friday morning, President Donald Trump addressed the Louvre attack in a tweet: