2017 Paris machete attack

2017 Paris machete attack
Part of Terrorism in France (Islamic terrorism in Europe (2014–present))
Paris Paris (France)
Location	Paris, France
Date	3 February 2017
Attack type	Knife attack, Islamist terrorism
Weapons	Machete
Deaths	0
Non-fatal injuries	1 (+1 attacker)
Perpetrator	Abdullah Reda Refaie al-Hamahmy

The Paris machete attack, also known as the Louvre knife attack or the variants, was an incident on 3 February 2017 when an Egyptian national in France on a tourist visa was shot as he rushed a group of French soldiers guarding a principal entrance to the Louvre Museum in Paris, France, attacking and injuring one soldier with a machete. The soldiers were patrolling the Museum as part of Opération Sentinelle, guarding the Carrousel du Louvre, a principal entrance to the Museum in which an underground shopping mall also serves as a gift shop, ticket sales office, and public entrance to the Museum.

The assailant, who was carrying two bags containing spray paint and two machetes, attacked and injured a soldier guarding the museum with a machete while attempting to enter the Louvre's underground shopping center shouting "Allahu Akbar". Another soldier on security patrol fired five shots at the assailant, injuring the attacker in the stomach. The attacker was arrested and immediately taken for medical treatment.

Immediately after his arrest, the suspect told authorities that he was carrying spray paint in order to deface the museum's artwork, an act that he regarded as a "symbolic" attack on France.

The suspect posted on his Twitter account in Arabic in the minutes before the failed attack, he referred to ISIL and also wrote, "In the name of Allah... for our brothers in Syria and fighters across the world."

The Egyptian Interior Ministry has identified the attacker as 29-year old Egyptian national Abdullah Reda al-Hamamy, an identity confirmed by the suspect, who had entered France on a one-month tourist visa issued in Dubai on 26 January. The French Public Minister, François Molins, confirmed the perpetrator was identified after a Visabio search. The suspect refused to speak in a first interview with investigators after being placed in detention at a hospital, but confirmed his identity in a subsequent interview. The suspect's father denied allegations of his son being a terrorist. However, investigators examining his social media accounts state that he has "sympathy for the ideas of ISIS."