France: Isis claims responsibility for murder of police officer and wife

Whilst claiming allegiance to the Islamic State (Isis) a man fatally stabbed a police officer in Magnanville, north-central France on Monday (13 June). The attacker also murdered the officer's wife and took their three-year-old son hostage, before police were able to break into the house and shoot the assailant.

Within hours of the double murder, Isis (Daesh) claimed responsibility with a statement issued through its Amaq News Agency, which read: "Islamic State fighter kills deputy chief of the police station in the city of Les Mureaux and his wife with blade weapons," the message said when translated by SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors jihadist websites.

FranceTV reported that the assailant first fatally stabbed Les Mureaux police station's deputy chief of the judicial police, 42-year-old Jean-Baptiste Salvaing, outside his house at around 9pm local time. He then entered the house and murdered the wife, who was also part of the police force, before taking the child hostage. French Interior Ministry spokesman Pierre-Henry Brandet confirmed that RAID special forces were able to break into the house and shoot down the attacker.

"Negotiations were opened, but it became clear that they would not succeed and police then entered the home, where they found the body of a woman," he said.

Witnesses told Le Parisien that the assailant lived in the same neighbourhood. He shouted "Allah Akbar" during the murder.

French President François Hollande called the murder an "odious act", saying: "Light will be shed on the circumstances of this abominable drama whose investigation, under the authority of justice, will determine the exact nature."

This is the second attack that has taken place during the religious period of Ramadan and is thought to have had links to IS. Omar Mateen, the man responsible for the murder of 50 people at a gay nightclub in Orlando on Sunday 12 June, also claimed allegiance to the IS.

In May, the terrorist organisation had released a video, encouraging supporters outside of Syria to plan more attacks during the holy Islamic month. "The tiniest action you do in the heart of their land is dearer to us than the biggest action by us... There are no innocents in the heart of the lands of the crusaders," the propaganda video stated.