French police say they suspect an attempted terrorist attack after a machete-wielding man tried to enter the Louvre in Paris on Friday morning.
The unidentified man reportedly shouted “Allahu Akbar” before attacking a soldier near the iconic museum’s adjacent shopping center. The man is wounded and in custody after a second soldier shot him.
“The soldier fired five bullets,” Michel Cadot, the chief of Paris police, said, according to Reuters. “It was an attack by a person … who represented a direct threat and whose actions suggested a terrorist context.”
{mosads}The public prosecutor’s office has allegedly opened an anti-terrorism inquiry.
France has become the frontline in militant Islamic attacks against the West, with more than 230 people killed the last two years, many in strikes claimed or inspired by ISIS.
Friday’s strike is sure to inflame an already tense presidential race in France. National security is expected to be a top issue when voters hit the polls in less than three months.