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French jihadist police killer 'obeyed Islamic State order' | |
(about 1 hour later) | |
The man who killed a French police couple at their home near Paris was acting on an order from so-called Islamic State (IS) to "kill infidels", officials say. | |
Larossi Abballa, who was killed in a shootout with police, was loyal to IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, they said. | Larossi Abballa, who was killed in a shootout with police, was loyal to IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, they said. |
A police commander and his partner were stabbed to death at their home. Their three-year-old son survived. | |
IS has put out a video showing Abballa confessing to the killings. | |
The video, on the IS news agency Amaq, apparently shows him in the home of the couple before police stormed in. | |
The killer had a list of other targets, including celebrities, journalists and politicians, Paris Prosecutor Francois Molins said. | |
The killings were "a terrorist act", President Francois Hollande said, and France still faced "a significant threat". | |
The attacker was killed in a police assault on the house in Magnanville, about 55km (35 miles) north-west of the French capital. | |
During negotiations prior to the police assault on Monday, Abballa, 25, said he had pledged his loyalty to the IS leader three weeks earlier. | |
In the attack Abballa stabbed the police commander repeatedly outside the house. He then seized the commander's partner, herself a policewoman, and their young son as hostages. | |
When police stormed the house, they killed Abballa and found the dead woman, who had been stabbed. The little boy was in a state of shock. | |
In 2013, Abballa was jailed for recruiting fighters for jihad in Pakistan. | |
He had been under recent police surveillance, including a wiretap, media reports say, quoting police sources. | |
Three people linked to Abballa have been arrested and placed in custody, police say. | |
Police say Abballa lay in wait outside the policeman's house on Monday evening before the ambush, at about 20:30 (18:30 GMT). | |
Abballa was shot and killed at about midnight, hours after he posted a 13-minute video on Facebook Live in which he swore allegiance to IS. | |
In the video, which has now been taken down, Abballa considers what to do with the couple's son, according to French jihad expert David Thomson, who watched it. | |
"I don't know yet what I'm going to do with him," the killer is heard saying. | "I don't know yet what I'm going to do with him," the killer is heard saying. |
He also made a threatening reference to the Euro 2016 football tournament. | |
Two Facebook accounts linked to Abballa were suspended on Tuesday morning. | Two Facebook accounts linked to Abballa were suspended on Tuesday morning. |
France has been under a state of emergency since the Paris attacks of 13 November 2015 in which 130 people died. | France has been under a state of emergency since the Paris attacks of 13 November 2015 in which 130 people died. |
That state of emergency is still in place. France is on high alert as it hosts the Euro championship, which started last Friday. | |