White House condemns Paris knife attack

The White House on Sunday issued a statement condemning the fatal knife attack in Paris on Saturday.

“The United States strongly condemns yesterday’s terrorist attack in Paris. Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their families,” the statement read.

“We stand in solidarity with the French people and their government against this vicious act of terrorism, and pledge any assistance needed. Acts like this only strengthen the resolve of the global coalition to defeat ISIS [the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria] and drive it out of existence.”

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President Trump later on Sunday issued his own statement on Twitter.

“At some point countries will have to open their eyes & see what is really going on. This kind of sickness & hatred is not compatible with a loving, peaceful, & successful country!” he tweeted.

So sad to see the Terror Attack in Paris. At some point countries will have to open their eyes & see what is really going on. This kind of sickness & hatred is not compatible with a loving, peaceful, & successful country! Changes to our thought process on terror must be made.

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 13, 2018

Though it wasn’t exactly clear what Trump meant in his tweet, the president has been known to link terrorism to migration from Muslim-majority countries. His administration has come under fire from civil rights groups for implementing repeated travel bans frequently referred to as “Muslim bans” due to the countries they target.

The attack on the city’s Opera district left one man dead and four others injured. 

ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack, though authorities said they were still working to determine the veracity of the claim.

The suspected assailant, who was killed by police, was revealed on Sunday to be a Chechnya-born Frenchman known publicly as Khamzat A. French media reported his last name to be Azimov. 

According to the French government, the suspect had been on a terrorism watchlist since 2016. 

The White House on Sunday also released a readout of Trump’s phone call with French President Emmanuel Macron the day before, though the attack wasn’t mentioned. It wasn’t clear if the call took place before or after the incident. 

France has seen a string of violent attacks over the past several years, including a terrorist attack in Paris in 2015 that left 130 people dead. Another attack, which took place in Nice in 2016, killed 86 people.

France is one of the U.S.’s key allies in the fight against ISIS. The country has also intervened in Mali to counter an insurgency by Islamist rebels there.

Updated: 8:16 p.m.