The French government has denounced an “abject act of terrorism” after a man with a previous terrorist conviction carried out a gruesome knife murder of a police commander and his partner at their home outside Paris in the presence of their three-year-old son.
Larossi Abballa, a Frenchman previously convicted of taking part in a jihadi recruitment network and claiming allegiance to Islamic State, streamed a video of the fatal attack on Facebook Live.
Jean-Baptiste Salvaing, 42, had returned to his home in the quiet residential area of Magnanville 30 miles (50km) west of Paris between 8pm and 8.20pm on Monday night in plain clothes, when Larossi lay in wait for him hidden behind a gate.
Salvaing first managed to escape and shouted at neighbours to call the police, but Abballa caught up with him on the pavement and repeatedly stabbed him in the stomach, killing him.
Abballa, 25, then ran into the house and held hostage the commander’s 36-year-old partner, who worked as a police administrator in a police station in nearby Mantes-la-Jolie, as well as the couple’s three-year-old son.
Elite police squads were called to the scene, evacuated neighbours, sealed off the area and cut off the electricity, plunging the street into darkness.
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https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jun/14/french-police-officer-wife-murdered-larossi-abballa-isis