Egypt condemns Louvre attack by Egyptian suspect

Egypt condemned the recent terrorist attack by a mechete-wielding man against soldiers outside Louvre Museum in Paris, the Egyptian Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Saturday.

"The Egyptian government and people support France and its people against terrorism," said the statement, urging the international community to intensify collective efforts to combat such "a serious phenomenon" that targets security and stability.

On Friday morning, a man holding two machetes rushed at four soldiers patrolling the Carrousel du Louvre shopping center in the French capital city, shouting in Arabic an Islamic phrase meaning "God is the Greatest."

The perpetrator was shot and seriously wounded after he slightly injured one of the soldiers.

Later in the evening, Paris prosecutor Francois Molins said in a press conference that initial investigations showed the knifeman might be a 29-year-old Egyptian citizen who arrived in France from Dubai late January with a tourist visa.

France has imposed emergency rules since November 2015 attacks in which gunmen and suicide bombers loyal to the Islamic State (IS) terrorist group killed 130 people in Paris.

In July 2016, at least 86 victims were killed as a man drove a truck into a crowd celebrating the Bastille Day in the southern city of Nice.

Egypt also has been suffering a rising wave of terrorism that killed hundreds of police and military men, mostly claimed by the IS in restive North Sinai province, since the army removed former Islamist President Mohamed Morsi in July 2013.

In Dec. 2016, at least 28 Coptic worshippers were killed as a suicide bomber attacked their church in Cairo. The crime was also claimed by the IS.

source: Xinhua