![Emergency squads wait at the scene as the police take security measures in front of the Louvre Museum after a soldier shot and wounded a man who tried to attack him with a knife in Paris, France on 3 February 2017. [Mustafa Sevgi/Anadolu Agency]](https://i0.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/Louvre-e1486154056822.jpg?fit=920%2C526&ssl=1)
Egypt’s interior ministry has received confirmation from the country’s embassy in Paris that the machete-wielding man suspected of attacking a soldier at the Louvre museum today is Egyptian, two Egyptian security sources said.
The sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorised to speak to the media, said they are waiting to receive further information before beginning an investigation.
French police are trying to establish whether the man acted alone or under instructions, the Paris prosecutor said.
The prosecutor, Francois Molins, told a news conference that the 29-year-old Egyptian had arrived in Paris on 26 January after acquiring a one-month tourist visa in Dubai, UAE.
The head of the Paris police department, Michel Cadot, said the man cried out “Allahu Akbar”.
“We are dealing with an attack from an individual who was clearly aggressive and represented a direct threat, and whose comments lead us to believe that he wished to carry out a terrorist incident,” Cadot told reporters.
“There was also a second individual who was behaving suspiciously, who has also been detained, but for now there does not appear to be a link between that individual and the attack,” Cadot added.
Cadot said the soldier who had been attacked had suffered some light wounds, and that others soldiers had fired five shots at the attacker, wounding the man.
He added that no explosives had been found in the attacker’s bag at the Louvre.
French President Francois Hollande praised the soldiers who shot and wounded the attacker, preventing what he said looked like a terrorist act.
“This operation undoubtedly prevented an attack whose terrorist nature leaves little doubt,” Hollande said at a meeting of EU leaders in Malta.