Police in Paris fired eight shots at a woman threating to blow up a train heading into the capital this morning, sparking chaos in the city as metro stations were evacuated, local authorities have said.
This latest security incident in France come as they face a heightened anti-terror alert following a fatal stabbing at a school blamed on an Islamic extremist.
Police said officers opened fire on Tuesday after the woman didn’t respond to their warnings. The Paris prosecutors later confirmed that two police officers together fired eight shots, seriously injuring the woman. It said she was hospitalised for emergency treatment.
It wasn’t clear what threats the woman was allegedly making but government spokesman Olivier Veran said the woman “made remarks of a rather Islamist nature” that worried other passengers.
Phrases she reportedly used included “You're all going to get it”, “Allahu akbar” and “Boom”, said Paris police chief Laurent Nunez.
Allahu akbar is “God is great” in Arabic.
A police investigation has been opened into the exact nature of threats the woman allegedly made while riding the RER C suburban train into Paris, and witness testimony will be gathered, the prosecutor's office said.
It said she is facing potential charges of making death threats, of defending terrorism and of intimidating behaviour directed at police.
The woman was dressed in a long robe, known as an abaya, the prosecutor's office said. Abayas are mainly worn by Muslims. A search of the woman found that she wasn't carrying explosives, the police chief said.
Police were verifying the identity of the woman, who was not carrying ID papers, but she is thought to have been arrested previously for threatening behaviour in 2021 and then hospitalised for apparent mental health problems, he said.
A Metro and suburban train station that serves the Francois-Mitterrand national library in eastern Paris were evacuated after the incident.
Police officers enter a subway station after a woman allegedly made threatening remarks on a train— (AP)
Earlier this month, a knifeman shouting “Allahu Akbar” at Gambetta High School in the city of Arras left one teacher dead and several other people injured as former Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal called for a Day of Jihad.
In the 13 October school attack, French-language teacher Dominique Bernard was stabbed to death and three other people were wounded.
The alleged attacker had been under police surveillance on suspicion of Islamic radicalization. French anti-terror investigators said the suspect declared allegiance to the Islamic State group before the assault in the northern French town of Arras.
Local police spokesperson Axel Ronde said the officers who shot the woman this morning had “made the right decision”.
He said: “The person was extremely determined to take action and given the determination, my colleagues had no other choice, to avoid being hit by an explosion, than to neutralise her by shooting her with a firearm.
“The police officers made the right decision.”
