TERRORIST ATTACK IN ROMAN SUR ISERE IN FRANCE ?

A third Sudanese man was arrested Saturday evening in the investigation into the knife attack perpetrated in Romans-sur-Isère by a Sudanese refugee in south-eastern France.

He is "a young Sudanese man who lived in the same home" as the respondent, said the National Counterterrorism Prosecutor's Office. This brings the number of Sudanese men in police custody in this investigation to three. There is the author of the attack born in 1987 and refugee in France since June 2017, a second man presented as "one of his acquaintances"; he was arrested "at the latter's but did not live at home", according to a source close to the investigation.

Terrorist track ?

Armed with a knife, the first attacked passers-by on the street and people in a tobacconist, a butcher and a bakery on Saturday morning in Romans-sur-Isère. Two people died, and two injured are in intensive but stable care, a third is in the recovery room and two others have left the hospital, according to the source close to the investigation. .

The perpetrator obtained refugee status on June 29, 2017 and a ten-year residence permit in July of the same year. He is unknown to the French or European police or intelligence services, according to the Public Prosecutor's Office, which has opened an investigation in particular for "assassinations in connection with a terrorist enterprise" and "criminal criminal criminals association".

The assailant first lived in Moras-en-Valloire, in the north of Drôme, "accompanied by state services and Catholic Relief", and "followed a professionalization contract and training in leather goods" , according to a press release from the mayor of the town, Aurélien Ferlay. He would have settled in late 2019 in the center of Romans-sur-Isère.

"Land of unbelievers"

The first elements of the investigation "highlighted a murderous course determined to seriously disturb public order by intimidation or terror", the same source. According to a source close to the investigation, the assailant said "do not remember what happened". His hearing had been delayed a bit because he was very agitated after his arrest. A psychiatric assessment is scheduled for Sunday.

During a search of his home were found "handwritten documents with a religious connotation in which the author of the lines complains in particular of living in a country of unbelievers", according to the prosecution, "a priori" written by him.

The Anti-Terrorism Sub-Directorate (SDAT) and the General Directorate of Internal Security (DGSI) were seized, in addition to the judicial police of Lyon.

France has lived under a constant terrorist threat since the wave of unprecedented jihadist attacks that began in 2015, which left a total of 258 dead after Saturday's attack.