Rico's rants: Allahu snackbar

03 February 2017

Allahu snackbar

The BBC has an article about the French, taking down another jihadi:

A French soldier guarding the Louvre (photo) in Paris, France has shot a man who tried to attack a security patrol with a machete, shouting Allahu Akbar, police say.
The man, who tried to gain entry to the Louvre's shopping center, was shot in the abdomen and seriously injured. One soldier sustained a slight head injury.
Prime Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said the attack was "terroristic in nature". The Louvre is home to numerous celebrated art works, including the Mona Lisa.
The incident began at 1000 local time in the Carrousel du Louvre shopping center at stairs leading to an entrance to the museum itself. A patrol of four soldiers was reported to have tried to subdue the assailant using non-lethal force after he rushed at them. When this failed, and after one soldier was injured, five shots were fired. The suspected attacker was taken to the hospital.
An image circulating in French media, said to have been taken by a tour guide, shows what is believed to be the suspect lying at the foot of the stairs, surrounded by armed soldiers. Two rucksacks belonging to the suspect have been inspected, but no explosives were found. There were reports of a second arrest, but the prosecutor's office later told the BBC this was not the case. Little is known about the main suspect, who is reported to be in his thirties and without identity papers.
Hundreds of visitors in the Louvre at the time were held in secure areas of the museum, before being evacuated gradually after security checks. As the attack unfolded, they were told by security staff to crouch on the floor. Witnesses described scenes of panic. One woman, who works at a restaurant in the Louvre, told the AFP news agency: "We saw death coming for us, with everything that's happening at the moment. We were very scared."
France has been on a high state of alert since the attacks in Paris in 2015. Thousands of troops on the streets form part of the stepped-up response. A series of assaults by both gunmen and suicide bombers claimed by so-called Islamic State killed over a hundred people in November of 2015. In January of that same year, seventeen people were killed in an attack on the Charlie Hebdo magazine.
Last July, 86 people were killed when a lorry plowed through crowds celebrating Bastille Day in Nice.
Security has become a theme of the French presidential election in April, which sees far-right leader Marine Le Pen and centrist independent Emmanuel Macron leading in the polls.
Though still hugely popular, the Louvre has suffered a drop in visitor numbers amid fears of a militant attack. It was ranked as the world's most-visited museum in 2015, but there are doubts whether it still holds the top spot.