Paris knife attack suspect acted over republishing of Charlie Hebdo cartoons: Sources

The suspect detained by French police in the Paris knife attack incident near the former offices of Charlie Hebdo magazine admitted that the attack was carried out in the context of the republication of cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed by the satirical weekly.

During questioning by the French police, he placed his actions “in the context of the republication of cartoons” of the Prophet Mohammed in Charlie Hebdo, a source said to AFP.

According to AFP, the suspect was born in Pakistan and is 18.

It is to be noted that the suspected assailant was arrested in June for carrying a weapon. Despite the recent arrest, he was not on the police radar as he had not been previously flagged for possible religious radicalisation.

Two people were injured in a knife attack in Paris on Friday. The man seriously injured them by attacking with a meat cleaver.

The Premieres Lignes news production agency said the wounded were its employees – a man and a woman taking a cigarette break outside.

The former Charlie's Hebdo's office is located in the11th district of central Paris.

The attack comes as the trial is underway for alleged accomplices of the January 2015 Charlie Hebdo attack.

The trial began on September 2 and is expected to continue until November.

On Jan. 7, 2015, brothers, Said and Cherif Kouachi went on a killing spree at the Charlie Hebdo office in Paris. They open fired on the reporters and illustrators at the satirical weekly office.

Among the dead were, the editor Stéphane Charbonnier, known as Charb, four other cartoonists including Cabu, two columnists, a copy editor, a guest attending the meeting, and the caretaker. 

Earlier, Al-Qaeda had threatened Charlie Hebdo after it decided to republish controversial cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed.

in its publication One Ummah, Al-Qaeda has stated that France could witness a repeat of the 2015 attacks. The publication stated that it would be a mistake to believe that the attack on Charlie Hebdo's offices was 'one-off'.

The publication also called the cartoon "contemptible", adding that it had the t had the "same message" for the France of President Emmanuel Macron as it did for his predecessor Francois Hollande who was president at the time of the 2015 attacks.