Overview
- The attack occurred during the ceremony to rekindle the eternal flame at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, where the assailant targeted officers securing the event.
- France’s national anti-terror prosecutor opened a preliminary investigation and dispatched a magistrate to oversee the inquiries.
- Officials said the suspect, a French national born in 1978, had been convicted in Belgium on terrorism-related charges, transferred to France in 2015, and released on December 24, 2025 under judicial supervision.
- French media identified the man as Brahim Bahrir, 48, and linked him to a 2012 stabbing of police officers in Brussels, though authorities have not formally named him.
- Police shot the attacker multiple times; he was taken to Georges-Pompidou Hospital and later died, with no bystanders reported injured and nearby metro stations closed as the area was secured.