Italian police arrest French suspect in ‘anti-Muslim’ mosque homicide
French authorities have condemned the deadly stabbing as an ‘Islamophobic assault’ and a hate crime.
Italian police have arrested a person suspected of killing a Muslim worshipper in a mosque in southern France in an “Islamophobic assault”.
The suspect turned himself in at a police station close to Florence late on Sunday, two days after the assault on the mosque in La Grand Combe, a former mining city within the Gard area. The homicide of the Malian man has been condemned as an “anti-Muslim” and “racist” crime.
The French Ministry of the Inside confirmed that the suspect, born in 2004 and with no earlier legal file, had crossed into Italy earlier than surrendering.
The general public prosecutor of the southern metropolis of Ales in Gard, Abdelkrim Grini, advised BFM TV that police had been monitoring the suspect after he fled France, including: “It was solely a matter of time earlier than we bought our palms on him.”
“The anti-Muslim motivation is the popular lead,” he added, however famous that authorities have been additionally exploring different motives, together with a “fascination with loss of life”.
Authorities launched a manhunt on Friday following the assault, which was captured on the suspect’s telephone and later circulated on-line.
Safety footage reportedly confirmed the attacker shouting insults in direction of God earlier than finishing up the assault.
France will rapidly begin extradition procedures, Grini stated. “We’ll do all we will to have him again as quickly as potential.”
Dans ce second de recueillement, de gravité, nommer les choses avec précision est un devoir.
Un devoir humain et un devoir citoyen, politique.À la famille d’Abu Bakr, à la communauté musulmane de La Grand-Combe, aux musulmans, nos condoléances et notre indéfectible fraternité. pic.twitter.com/GRD2cy36mC
— Aly D (@AlyDiouara) April 27, 2025
President Emmanuel Macron condemned the assault, declaring: “Racism and hatred based mostly on faith won’t ever have a spot in France. Non secular freedom is inviolable.”
Earlier, Prime Minister Francois Bayrou branded the assault as “Islamophobic”.
The Grand Mosque of Paris recognized the sufferer, named domestically as Aboubakar, as a younger man in his 20s who had been cleansing the mosque shortly earlier than he was attacked.
Demonstrations in assist of the sufferer have been held over the weekend in La Grand Combe and Paris, with activists demanding stronger motion in opposition to anti-Muslim violence.
France is dwelling to Europe’s largest Muslim inhabitants, making up about 10 p.c of the nation.
