"French soldier stabbed while on patrol near Paris"

I copied Reuters' headline directly. They make it sound like just another day at the office, don't they?

A police union spokesman said surveillance footage of the attacker showed him as tall and bearded, aged about 35, possibly of North African origin and wearing a white Arab-style tunic.

Beard? North African? Arab-style tunic? I don't know about you, but if I were a criminal profiler, I might flag the suspect as a member of the Euro-Tea Party. Or it may possibly have been one of those damned Lutherans ... they're known for doing stuff like this all the time.

Three days after a British soldier was killed in a London street by two men who said they acted to avenge violence against Muslims, the attack near Paris raised questions about a possible copycat attempt to kill a French soldier.

Interior Minister Manuel Valls noted the similarity in an interview on France 2 TV saying the attacker was clearly trying to murder his victim, but he added that it was too early to offer any theories.

"Let's be prudent for now," Valls said of the attacker's identity and motivations. "Everything is being done to arrest this individual."

Yes, yes. Let's be prudent. Mustn't leap to any conclusions.

posted by Andy at 06:40 PM

| Access Comments