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France police stabbing: Facebook Live video shows Isis supporter who killed officer and wife calling for more attacks

'Kill them, kill them,' Larossi Abballa said, calling for Euro 2016 to be turned into 'a graveyard'

Lizzie Dearden
Tuesday 14 June 2016 15:53 BST
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Larossi Abballa pledges allegiance to Isis

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An Isis supporter who stabbed a police officer and his wife to death near Paris streamed a live video of himself calling for further terror attacks from inside his victims' home.

In what appears to be a prepared speech, Larossi Abballa pledged allegiance to the so-called Islamic State and claimed the Euro 2016 football tournament being held in France would be turned into "a graveyard".

Speaking in a mix of French and Arabic as he held the couple's three-year-old child hostage, he pledged allegiance to Isis’ self-declared “caliph” Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and said he was obeying a call to carry out lone wolf attacks during Ramadan.

Larossi Abballa broadcast his murders on Facebook
Larossi Abballa broadcast his murders on Facebook (Facebook)

Over the rambling 12-minute speech, Abballa is seen telling viewers they will go to "paradise" for murdering targets, including police and a list of named journalists, while smiling and staring into the camera.

“Kill them, kill them, kill them, kill them,” Abballa says.

He is also seen urging Isis followers to attack other Muslims if they fall into one of the supposed enemy groups: “Kill them even if their name is Mohammad or Aisha.”

The 25-year-old demanded that followers travel to Isis territories in Iraq or Syria, or carry out “obligatory” jihad at home, in an excerpt published by Isis' Amaq news agency.

Abballa broadcast his rantings using Facebook Live at 8.52pm, minutes after he killed Jean-Baptiste Salvaing and his wife at their home.

At one point the footage showed him puzzling over what to do with their three-year-old child sitting behind him, who was unharmed in the ordeal.

Police said Abballa had lain in wait outside the house in Magnanville, a commune northwest of Paris, and stabbed Mr Salvaing as he arrived home at around 8.30pm local time (7.30pm BST) on Monday.

He then went inside and murdered the officer’s wife, before holding their son hostage for several hours in a stand-off with armed police.

Abballa was shot dead by officers when they stormed the house at around midnight.

In a post on the social network, he had announced the “success” of his mission and claimed he was in contact with Isis fighters abroad. “I have responded to the call of Sheikh Abu Muhammad al-Adnani,” he wrote, referring to the Isis spokesman’s speech inciting lone wolf attacks during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.

The group swiftly claimed responsibility for the attack via its Amaq news agency, calling the stabber an “Islamic State fighter”.

Francois Molins, the Paris prosecutor, previously said Abballa posted a video late on Monday, while he was in a stand-off with police. His account has since been removed.

He said investigators had uncovered a list of targets, including journalists “rappers, police officers and public personalities”, which appears to match those mentioned in Abballa’s video.

Armed police officers at a security perimeter near the house where the double murder and hostage situation took place
Armed police officers at a security perimeter near the house where the double murder and hostage situation took place (EPA)

He had a known history of extremism and was jailed for recruiting fighters for extremist groups in Pakistan in 2013.

Abballa received a three-year sentence for “criminal association with the aim of preparing terrorist acts” – six months was suspended.

The Interior Minister, Bernard Cazeneuve, said police officers would be allowed to take their service guns home amid safety concerns, adding that the investigation was advancing as quickly as possible “to put eventual accomplices out of action.”

Several people have been detained in the investigation into Aballa’s attack and raids continue around Paris.

France has been on high alert as it hosts the Euro 2016 football tournament, where violence has been seen between fans, and is still under a state of emergency following Isis’ Paris attacks in November.

The threat “is high in France, it's high in Europe, it's high in the Western world, as shown by the events that happened 48 hours ago in the United States,” Mr Cazeneuve said.

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