The Latest: Paris knife attacker was flagged for radicalism

PARIS (AP) — The Latest on the Paris stabbing attack (all times local):

10:40 a.m.

A French official says the Chechen man behind a deadly stabbing in central Paris had been on police radar for radicalism.

The judicial official told The Associated Press that while the alleged assailant had no record of arrests or convictions, he had been on a nationwide database of thousands of people suspected of links to radicalism. The official wasn’t authorized to be publicly named speaking about an ongoing investigation.

The assailant was killed by police after fatally stabbing one man and injuring four other people. The attacker’s parents are under questioning. Counterterrorism investigators are leading the probe into Saturday’s attack near the Paris opera house, which was claimed by the Islamic State group.

Authorities say the attacker was born in the majority Muslim Russian republic of Chechnya, which has long grappled with extremism. The Russian Embassy in France wouldn’t comment Sunday.

–By Angela Charlton in Paris.

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9:50 a.m.

French officials say the Russian-born man who attacked five people in central Paris with a knife had no police record and didn’t know his victims.

Interior Ministry spokesman Frederic de Lanouvelle told The Associated Press on Sunday that the man was born in the Russian republic of Chechnya in 1997 and did not have any previous convictions or arrests. He said the attacker had no link to his victims.

It wasn’t clear whether the assailant had been flagged for radicalism in the past. The Islamic State group claimed he was one of their fighters.

A police official said the assailant didn’t have identity documents with him during Saturday’s attack but was identified thanks to DNA. His parents were under questioning Sunday.

The assailant was killed after stabbing a 29-year-old man to death and injuring two women and two men. Their lives were out of danger Sunday.

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8:20 a.m.

A French judicial official says the man behind a deadly knife attack in central Paris was born in Chechnya in 1997, and his parents have been detained.

The official said Sunday the assailant had French nationality but was born in the Russian republic. The official, who wasn’t authorized to be publicly named, provided no other information on the attacker’s identity.

The French interior minister is holding a special security meeting Sunday to address the attack, which was claimed by the Islamic State group.

The attacker was killed by police after killing a 29-year-old man and injuring four others in a lively neighborhood near the Opera Garnier on Saturday night.