France calls killing of police officer, partner 'a terrorist act'

On Tuesday morning, French President Francois Holland and Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve called the stabbing death of two police officials on Monday "a terrorist act." Two unidentified French officials tell The Associated Press that the assailant is a 25-year-old suburban Paris resident named Larossi Abbala, who was reportedly sentenced to three years in prison in 2013 on terrorism charges tied to recruiting jihadis in Pakistan. The attacker fatally stabbed the police officer outside his home in the Parisian suburb of Magnaville, then took his female partner, also a police official, and a child hostage.

When antiterrorism police stormed the apartment after unsuccessful hostage negotiations, in which Abbala reportedly claimed allegiance to the Islamic State, they found the woman dead but the child alive. The attacker was killed in the raid. Hollande and Cazeneuve both compared the attack to the murder of 49 people in Orlando, Florida, early Sunday morning, with Hollande warning that France still faces a "very large scale" terrorism threat and Cazeneuve saying that France has arrested more than 100 people viewed as potential threats this year, including in recent weeks, as France prepares to host a major European soccer tournament.

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