Timeline: How jihadists have targeted soldiers and police in France
The attack on a French policeman at Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris is believed to have been the latest in a string of terror incidents targeting police and soldiers in France.
Tarek Belgacem tries to attack a police station in Paris with a meat cleaver and a device that turns out to be a fake bomb. Photo: AFP
On Tuesday a man who, according to reports, called himself a “soldier of the caliphate” attacked a policeman on patrol outside the famous cathedral in the heart of Paris armed with a hammer and two knives as he shouted, “This is for Syria”.
Before Tuesday’s attack, France’s forces of security and law and order have been targeted numerous times before and often fatally.
April 20th, 2017: A gunman opened fire on police officers on Paris’ Champs-Elysée, killing policeman Xavier Jugele and leaving two others in critical condition.
The shooter was also killed at the scene. He was already known to intelligence services for having already expressed a desire to kill police officers.
The attacker was named as 39-year-old ‘Karim C’, who was born in France.
March 18, 2017: An attacker walked onto the departures floor of Orly airport’s south terminal where he grabbed a female soldier on patrol with two male colleagues.
He fought with the female soldier, trying to take her assault rifle and succeeding after a couple of attempts. He was then shot dead by one of her colleagues.
February 3rd, 2017: A man pulled out two machetes and attacked one of the soldiers standing guard at the entrance to the underground Carrousel du Louvre shopping centre, which is next to the world famous art gallery.
Soldiers tried to fight him off with close contact but were unable to contain him. They then opened fire.
June 14th, 2016: The murder of a policeman and his partner in Magnanville, a town to the west of Paris added to the list of members of the French security forces who have been targeted by Islamist militants.
The attacker, identified as Larossi Abballa, claimed allegiance to the Islamic State group after stabbing Jean-Baptiste Savaing to death.
January 7th, 2016: A year to the day after the Charlie Hebdo attack, a man identified as Tarek Belgacem tries to attack a police station in Paris with a meat cleaver and a device that turns out to be a fake bomb.
He is shot dead by police, who find a pledge of allegiance to the Islamic State group on his body.
February 3rd, 2015: Moussa Coulibaly, unrelated to Amedy Coulibaly, uses a knife to attack three soldiers guarding a Jewish community centre in Nice, southern France.
January 8th, 2015: Islamist Amedy Coulibaly shoots dead a policewoman in Montrouge, south of Paris, before taking hostages the next day at a kosher supermarket, where he kills four more people. He later dies during a police assault.
Coulibaly was linked to Cherif and Said Kouachi, who attacked the satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo on January 7, 2015 during which 12 people, including two policemen, are killed.
December 20th, 2014: Bertrand Nzohabonayo is shot dead as he cries “Allahu akbar” (God is greatest) as he attacks police with a knife in Joue-les-Tours, in central France.
May 25th, 2013: A soldier patrolling the business district of La Defense, west of Paris is injured by Alexandre Dhaussy, 22, a convert to Islam.
Dhaussy is arrested a few days later and claims his motive was religious. A court decides that he suffers from psychiatric problems.
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