Kingdom denounces Louvre attack

Riyadh — An official source at the Foreign Ministry on Saturday denounced in the strongest words the terror attack at the Louvre museum in Paris. In a statement the source said that the Kingdom stands with France in confronting terrorism, and reiterated the Kingdom’s firm position against terrorism and extremism. Meanwhile, art lovers returned to the Louvre in Paris on Saturday, 24 hours after a soldier shot a machete-wielding attacker at the museum, believed to be an Egyptian who entered the country a week ago. The incident on Friday thrust security and the terror threat back into the limelight three months before elections in France, with authorities saying it was a “terrorist” assault. It also threatened to deal another blow to Paris’ lucrative tourism industry which has been badly affected by a string of attacks since 2015. At the Louvre on Saturday, a crowd had formed at the main entrance as the doors re-opened to the first visitors of the day on schedule at 09:30 a.m. (0830 GMT). Soldiers in uniform with machine guns could be seen patrolling as usual, with routine bag checks also undertaken by Louvre security staff. French investigators said Friday’s attacker, in a black T-shirt bearing a skull design and armed with two machetes, lunged at four patrolling French soldiers. They are examining the Twitter account of an Egyptian man named Abdallah El Hamahmy after around a dozen messages were posted in Arabic between 9:27-9:34 a.m. (0827-0834 GMT), just minutes prior to the attack. One of the troops was “lightly injured” in the attack after being struck on the head in a public area that leads to one of the museum’s entrance. A second soldier opened fire five times and hit the machete-wielder in the stomach. “The attacker fell to the ground, seriously wounded,” Paris prosecutor Francois Molins told a press conference late Friday. His condition stabilized overnight in a Parisian hospital, a source close to the case told AFP. Based on his phone and visa records, he is thought to be a 29-year-old Egyptian national who is resident in the United Arab Emirates. Investigators have established he entered France legally on a flight from Dubai on Jan. 26 and had rented an expensive apartment near the Champs Elysee, sources close to the case told AFP. The government of the United Arab Emirates, which includes Dubai, condemned the “hateful crime” and assured France of its “full solidarity”. — Agencies