Police in southern France are continuing to search for a suspect in the fatal stabbing of a Muslim worshipper inside a mosque.
Authorities say they believe Friday’s killing could have been an Islamophobic crime.
What do we know about the attack?
Authorities said a man in his 20s stabbed the worshipper dozens of times at the building in the village of La Grand-Combe, north of Montpellier.
Le Parisien newspaper cited an investigative source as saying the attacker then filmed the victim, who was in his early to mid-20s, with his mobile phone as he lay dying.
The video was sent to a friend who then posted it online before deleting it, according to French media reports.
Surveillance cameras at the mosque also captured the attack, which showed the attacker and victim alone in the Mosque.
The body was not found until mid-morning.
French media said the victim was a regular worshipper at the mosque. People told AFP news agency that he had arrived from Mali a few years ago and was “very well-known” and highly regarded in the village.
The killer had never been seen there before, investigators said.
Alleged perpetrator not caught yet
Regional prosecutor Abdelkrim Grini told AFP that the suspect was still at large as of Saturday.
Describing the killing as possible Islamophobic crime, Grini said the French anti-terror prosecutors’ office was considering whether to take over the case.
Another source told AFP that the suspect has been identified as a French citizen of Bosnian origin who is not a Muslim.
During the attack, the man reportedly shouted insults against Allah.
Attacker will be caught and punished, says French PM
French Prime Minister François Bayrou condemned the stabbing, describing it in a post on X late Saturday as an “Islamophobic atrocity.”
“We stand with the victim’s loved ones and with the shocked believers,” Bayrou wrote, emphasizing that authorities are doing everything in their power to apprehend the perpetrator and bring him to justice.
Edited by: Roshni Majumdar
