Paris car attack suspect unknown to French spy agencies

The Algerian national suspected of plowing a hired car into a group of soldiers in a wealthy Paris suburb is believed to be unknown to French intelligence services and had no criminal record, a police source said on Thursday.

Investigators late on Wednesday raided several addresses associated with the 36- year- old suspect, who was cornered by armed police from elite units on a motorway some 260 kilometers north of the capital.

Interior Minister Gerard Collomb said the incident was a “deliberate act” and prosecutors opened a counter- terrorism investigation. The police source said the suspect is called Hamou Benlatreche, confirming local media reports.

Benlatreche was not thought to be on a secret service list of people linked to radical Islam, the police source said.

“When a suspect is on the list, we know immediately,” the source said. “But in this case we’ve not been given any indication that he is.”

Benlatreche’s uncle described his neph- ew as a faithful Muslim who prayed regularly, and expressed shock at hearing that his relative was linked to the attack.

“I couldn’t believe it. It totally stunned us,” Mohammed Benlatreche told BFM TV.

The attack targeted a group of soldiers as they began a morning patrol in the upscale area of Levallois- Perret, home to France’s domestic intelligence agency and only a few kilometers from landmarks such as the Arc de Triomphe and Eiff el Tower.