THE Paris knifeman who stabbed a pregnant woman and two others said “Allah commanded me” to launch the vicious rampage.
Terrifying footage shows the 31-year-old suspect wielding two knives and lunging at bystanders before his arrest by an off-duty cop.
The three woman, aged 19, 24 and 36, were treated by paramedics at the scene in Porte de Clichy before being rushed to hospital.
Two are said to be in critical condition, but their lives are not in danger.
One was hit in the lower back, with another being stabbed in the abdomen.
Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said the suspect was detained by an off-duty officer who witnessed the attack.
The suspect’s identity and motive were not immediately clear.
Nunez added that he made “incoherent statements”, and warned against jumping to conclusions about his motive.
A shocking video on social media shows the attacker dressed in a cream tracksuit and running through the streets while wielding a large knife in each hand.
In one particularly chilling moment, he lunges at a woman with one of the blades as he runs past her.
Bystanders are seen running away in terror before a brave group manage to subdue the suspect and pin him down with a chair.
Blood can be seen coating his right hand before the camera pans to show the knives abandoned on a zebra crossing.
In the clip, the man lying on the ground says: “It is Allah who commanded me. I pay tribute to him, it was a courageous act.”
The French national anti-terrorist prosecutor’s office said it was weighing whether to open an investigation.
The office said it is “monitoring the procedure conducted by the Paris prosecutor’s office”.
Paris mayor Emmanuel Gregoire wrote on X: “I extend all my thoughts to the victims of this act of extreme violence.
“The investigation must shed light on the motivations of the perpetrator. Deep gratitude to the off-duty police officer who subdued the assailant.”
It comes several months after three women were stabbed on a Paris metro train.
The attacker is said to have pulled a knife on the victims at different stations on line three of the network, which runs between Bagnolet (Seine-Saint-Denis) and Levallois-Perret (Hauts-de-Seine).
He started the rampage at République station, before moving on to the Arts et Métiers and then Opéra stations.
Fortunately, the three women sustained only minor injuries, two of them to their backs and thighs, according to a police source.
