France Attacks: Lone Wolf Or Terrorism? Assailants Shout ‘Allahu Akbar’

Two attacks in France have left the country on edge, and many wonder if it’s terrorist related or simply lone wolf attacks, while authorities are warning the public to be extra vigilant.

Separate incidents in different parts of France have police on alert and the country on edge. Some are saying these are terrorist attacks because both assailants yelled, “Allahu Akbar,” (God is greatest), which became a war line used in the September 11, 2001 attacks and in numerous other jihad-related incidents.

In the first incident on Saturday, a recent convert to Islam attacked police officers with a knife in the city of Joue-les-Tours, a suburb of Tours. The attack left two officers seriously injured and a third one with less grave injuries.

According to the AFP, the perpetrator — who was shot by police — was a French national born in Burundi in 1994 and was known to police for common crimes, a source close to the investigation said.

The attacker “shouted ‘Allahu Akbar’ from the moment he entered until his last breath,” the source added. “It looked like the sort of act called for by Islamic State. The investigation is leading towards an attack… motivated by radical Islamist motives.”

ISIS, a brutal terrorist group that has attempted to take strategic cities in Iraq and has become known for the beheading of westerners on camera, has urged followers to attack the U.S. and its coalition, and take Jihad into their streets by committing random attacks.

“By making calls to carry out attacks in the West, terrorist groups such as the Islamic State have two objectives: one is to cause as many victims possible, but the most important one is to install an atmosphere of terror and suspicion between Western citizens, between Muslims and non-Muslims,” FRANCE 24’s Wassim Nasr says.

The second attack in France came on Sunday night, when a car plowed into a crowd of pedestrians in the city of Dijon. The incident left 13 injured, two of them seriously, according to the Independent.

French President François Hollande has called for the “utmost vigilance,” while at the same time asking the public to remain calm and also warned against jumping to conclusions relating to terrorist ties. Prosecutors in Tours have concluded that the attack was “not a terrorist act.”

The prosecutor in Dijon said the driver behind the attack in that city has a long history of severe mental illness and no links to terrorism, according to the Huffington Post.

The “lone wolf” type attacks come a week after a terrorist attack in Sydney, Australia, in which another Islamist took multiple hostages at a cafe. Police stormed the scene, which resulted in the death of two hostages and the gunman.

Similarly to the random attacks in France, a gunman stormed Parliament Hill in Ottawa, killing a Canadian soldier in October. Coincidentally though, France, Australia, and Canada are part of the coalition fighting the ISIS in Iraq and Syria.

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