{"id":31674,"date":"2017-03-19T06:15:29","date_gmt":"2017-03-19T06:15:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/en.bornomalanews.com\/?p=31674"},"modified":"2017-03-19T06:15:29","modified_gmt":"2017-03-19T06:15:29","slug":"orly-airport-france-launches-terror-investigation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/en.bornomalanews.com\/?p=31674","title":{"rendered":"Orly airport: France launches terror investigation"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"Orly-airport\"International Desk: French anti-terror prosecutors are investigating an attack at Paris's Orly airport by a gunman who was eventually shot dead by security forces.<\/p>\n

Ziyed Ben Belgacem, 39, was killed on Saturday after he put a gun to a soldier's head saying he wanted to “die for Allah”, officials say.<\/p>\n

Earlier that day he had been involved in a shooting and then a carjacking.<\/p>\n

Belgacem is described as having been radicalised in prison, and was on a police watch-list. His criminal record included convictions for armed robbery and drugs offences, Paris prosecutor Francois Molins told reporters late on Saturday.<\/p>\n

Intelligence agents searched his home in Garges-les-Gonesse for evidence of Islamist sympathies, but reportedly found nothing. However, traces of cocaine were discovered during the search.<\/p>\n

The BBC's Hugh Schofield in Paris says the picture is building up of a man on the criminal fringes of society, who also consorted with Islamist radicals.The attack comes at a sensitive time. France has presidential elections starting next month and remains under a state of emergency.<\/p>\n

The soldiers at Orly were part of Operation Sentinel – involving thousands of soldiers deployed to provide back-up to the police after the Charlie Hebdo attack in January 2015 and the Paris attacks of November 2015.<\/p>\n

Early on Saturday morning, Belgacem was stopped at a checkpoint in Garges-les-Gonesse, north of Paris, where he lives.<\/p>\n

He fired at police with a pellet gun before escaping in a car that was later found abandoned.<\/p>\n

Police say he then stole a car at gunpoint from a woman at Vitry, south of Paris. That car was later found at Orly airport.Belgacem arrived at the airport and attacked the military patrol in the south terminal.<\/p>\n

He tried to seize the servicewoman's automatic weapon, put his gun to her head and said: “I'm here to die for Allah. In any case people are going to die.”<\/p>\n

He was then shot dead by two other soldiers.<\/p>\n

A copy of the Koran was found on his body, Mr Molins added.Orly – located 13km (8 miles) south of Paris – is the capital's second-largest airport.<\/p>\n

Both the west and the south terminals were closed during the security operation. An estimated 3,000 passengers were evacuated.<\/p>\n

Flights were suspended for several hours. Both terminals reopened later on Saturday and flight operations gradually resumed.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

International Desk: French anti-terror prosecutors are investigating an attack at Paris’s Orly airport by a gunman who was eventually shot dead by security forces. Ziyed Ben Belgacem, 39, was killed on Saturday after he put a gun to a soldier’s head saying he wanted to “die for Allah”, officials say. Earlier that day he had […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":31675,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[14],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\t\n