PARIS, June 10 (Xinhua) -- A man who attacked police officers with a hammer outside Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris was placed under formal investigation on Saturday, Paris prosecutor Paris Molins said.
On Tuesday afternoon, the assailant, armed with a hammer and kitchen knives, targeted police officers outside Notre Dame Cathedral in the French capital and slightly wounded a 22-year-old policeman while he shouted "This is for Syria."
The 40-year-old suspect was unknown to intelligence services and "never showed signs of radicalization and had no contacts established with individuals in the Iraqi-Syrian zone," Molins said.
Identified as Farid Ikken, a PhD student of communications, the suspect had "a neophyte profile." He had immediately "recognized the facts" and mentioned "a process of solitary radicalization on internet," the prosecutor added.
Elements found on his laptop showed his "obvious interest for Daesh (Islamic State, or IS) theory," including many files of extremist propaganda and "a manual of action of the solitary wolves" published by the IS.
With emergency security rules have already been imposed since 2015, Molins warned the risk of "multiform terrorist threat" remained high.
