Champs-Elysees Attacker Dead, Car Contained ‘Firearms and Explosives’

[Ant22]

A day after the attack in Finsbury Park (London) an attacker drives into a police car in Paris. It looks like cars driving into people have become the new 'go-to' choice of strategy.

I haven't seen it mentioned on the forum anywhere, please excuse me if it's been in fact mentioned and I missed it!

https://sputniknews.com/europe/201706201054782475-paris-terror-attack-attempt/

Terror Attack Attempt in Paris Results in Zero Victims, Death of Perpetrator

An attempted terror attack in the French capital on Monday resulted in the death of the perpetrator who rammed an explosives-rigged car into a gendarmerie van.

PARIS (Sputnik) — A man drove a car that contained weapons and explosives into a French gendarmerie van in the center of Paris on Monday and died in the incident, without hurting police or passers-by.

TIMELINE

The incident occurred at about 4 p.m. local time (14:00 GMT) at Avenue Champs-Elysees, a couple hundred feet away from the presidential palace.

"Weapons and explosives located in the car were the cause of the explosion. The man died, the anti-terrorism division of the Paris prosecutor’s office has been tasked with the investigation," French Interior Minister Gerard Collomb told reporters.

The site of the incident was promptly cordoned off, the world-famous avenue secured, a nearby metro station closed. Neither police nor any civilians have been injured in the incident, according to the latest data,

ATTACKER KNOWN TO SPECIAL SERVICES

According to the BFMTV broadcaster, the perpetrator was 31 years old and known to the French special services as someone who could be potentially dangerous to national security, marked with the so-called "fiche S."
The investigators will have to find out whether the driver was acting alone or with accomplices.

A gas tank, several weapons, including one Kalashnikov rifle, and numerous cartridges were reportedly found in the car. The de-mining operation is still ongoing.

ON HIGH SECURITY ALERT

Collomb stressed that the terrorist threat level in Paris remained "extremely high." According to the interior minister, it is important to preserve the state of emergency currently in effect in France to be able to successfully counter terrorists.
This incident is the second attack to have taken place at Champs-Elysees in the latest months. On April 20, a few days before the first round of the French presidential elections, police officers were attacked, with one dead and another one injured as the result. The perpetrator was shot down by the police.

France adopted the state of emergency following the 2015 attacks in Paris and it has been prolonged several times.

ADDED:

The U.S. State Department issued a travel warning due to terrorism for anyone travelling to Europe back in March this year, as discussed in this thread .

As reported by Sputnik they just followed up with another one as a result of the recent incident in Paris. My only comment to this:

https://sputniknews.com/europe/201704201052828865-usa-urger-americans-avoid-champs-elysees/

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — American nationals in Paris should avoid the Champs Elysees area of the city amid an ongoing security incident after police officers were attacked, the US embassy in Paris said on Thursday.
"The US embassy in Paris informs US citizens that there has been a police action on the Champs Elysees in Paris," the embassy stated. "US citizens are advised to avoid the area, heed instructions of local authorities and monitor local media for updates."

At least one police officer was injured after an assailant opened fire on a police vehicle near the Franklin Roosevelt subway stop in Paris around 9 p.m. (8 p.m. GMT) on Thursday.

A second officer and the assailant have been reported killed.

Police have placed the area on lockdown and are searching homes and a vehicle believed to belong to the shooter.

The Paris prosecutor’s office counter-terror unit opened an investigation into the incident.

 

[Ca.]

A day after the attack in Finsbury Park (London) an attacker drives into a police car in Paris. It looks like cars driving into people have become the new 'go-to' choice of strategy.
I haven't seen it mentioned on the forum anywhere, please excuse me if it's been in fact mentioned and I missed it!
https://sputniknews.com/europe/201706201054782475-paris-terror-attack-attempt/

So, he was being monitored by France's Security Watch List:
Rt
https://www.rt.com/news/393074-armed-police-france-paris/

France has been in a state of emergency since an attack in Paris in November 2015 that killed 130 people. Last month a police officer was killed and two seriously injured following a shooting at the Champs-Elysees.

http://<iframe width="560" height="...m4" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

French police hold 4 family members of Champs-Elysees attacker—source
_http://www.ndtv.com/world-news/man-on-jihadist-watchlist-rams-car-loaded-with-guns-into-police-van-in-paris-champs-elysees-1714396

The ex-wife, brother and sister-in-law of Adam Dzaziri were detained late on Monday afternoon after police questioned them at the family home outside Paris.
The assailant’s father was also “taken into custody during the evening,” the source said.
Dzaziri was killed in Monday’s attack, but there were no other casualties.
Sources close to the probe said he had been on France’s security watchlist since 2015 over ties to “the radical Islamist movement.”
The suspect’s father told AFP that his son “had a registered weapon, he practiced shooting.” A source close to the case said the 31-year-old had a firearms permit.

- String of attacks -

The attack Monday was the latest in a string incidents in France and Britain.

Earlier Monday, a van ploughed into a crowd of Muslims near a London mosque, injuring 10 people. It was the second terror attack this month in the British capital.

Two weeks ago jihadists used a van and knives to kill eight people enjoying a night out around London Bridge. Three of the victims were French.

In May, a suicide bomber killed 22 people, including children, at a concert by US singer Ariana Grande in Manchester.

France remains under a state of emergency imposed after the November 2015 attacks in Paris, when IS jihadists slaughtered 130 people in a night of carnage at venues across the city.

Previous major attacks targeted the Paris offices of the Charlie Hebdo satirical magazine in January 2015.

A senior police officer and his female companion were both killed by a radicalised man at their home in the Paris suburbs a year ago.

And in July last year, a radicalised Tunisian man killed 86 people as he rammed a truck through a crowd watching Bastille Day fireworks in the Riviera city of Nice.

On Wednesday, the French government is to unveil a new anti-terrorism law, designed to allow the state of emergency to be lifted.

"To those who question the necessity of such laws, you can see that the state of France today necessitates it," Collomb said.

"If we want to effectively ensure the security of our citizens, we must be able to take a certain number of measures," he added.

Tag: The Sources, Monitors, The Set Up.

_http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4620550/Cops-arrest-relatives-man-attacked-Champs-Elysees.html

 

[Ca.]

Soldiers ‘neutralize’ suspect wearing explosive belt at Brussels Central Station (WATCH LIVE)
Published time: 20 Jun, 2017 19:32
https://www.rt.com/news/393273-brussels-police-explosive-belt/
https://www.facebook.com/RTnews/videos/10155679245879411/

Belgian police have “neutralized” a person wearing reportedly an explosive belt at Brussels Central Station. The news comes after the station was evacuated following reports of an explosion, according to local media sources.

Belgian police have confirmed the incident is under control.

Soldiers guarding the main train station in the Belgian capital “neutralized” the suspect after a small explosion, according to local media.

There was an accident at Central Station. There was an explosion around a person. That person was neutralized by the soldiers that were on the scene,” a police spokesperson told reporters, as cited by Reuters.

"At the moment, the police are in numbers at the station and everything is under control."

The spokesperson did not clarify whether the ‘neutralized’ suspect had been killed.

"According to initial findings, there is not much damage, but more details are missing for now,"

federal police said regarding reports of an explosion, as reported by Het Laatste Nieuws.

"The incident is still under investigation," Peter De Waele of the federal police said.

Belgian Rail says traffic has been halted at Brussels Central Station, and the city’s Grand Palace has also been evacuated, report local Belgian media.