French investigators Sunday began questioning a suspect in the attack on troops outside the Louvre Museum in Paris, but the man refused to speak, a judicial source said.
The suspect, believed to be an Egyptian national, was shot in the stomach and seriously wounded after lunging at soldiers with two machetes on Friday.
Investigators decided to question him in hospital after his condition improved, the source said.
The man “is refusing to speak to investigators for now”, the source added.
The suspect has been held at a Paris hospital since Friday’s attack near the historic museum, which thrust the issue of security back into the headlines three months ahead of the French presidential election.
Based on his phone and visa records, he is thought to be Abdallah El-Hamahmy, a 29-year-old Egyptian national living in the United Arab Emirates, who entered France legally on a flight from Dubai on January 26.
Investigators believe Hamahmy rented an expensive apartment near the Champs Elysees.
Police were examining Hamahmy’s Twitter account after around a dozen messages were posted just minutes before the attack.
“In the name of Allah… for our brothers in Syria and fighters across the world,” he wrote in Arabic, before referring to the ISIL Takfiir group in another tweet a minute later.
Source: AFP
