A man suspected of killing a Muslim worshiper in a mosque in the south of France was still on the run Sunday, authorities said, in an attack described by Prime Minister Francois Bayrou as Islamophobic.
The attacker and the victim were alone in the mosque in the former mining town of La Grand Combe on Friday when the stabbing occurred. The assailant recorded the attack on his phone, and security camera video showed him shouting insults at Allah, local media said.
Bayrou denounced the attack an act of “Islamophobic ignominy displayed on video.”
“We stand shoulder to shoulder with the victim’s family and the shocked worshipers,” he said. “The resources of the state are being mobilized to ensure that the murderer is caught and punished.”
Local prosecutor Abdelkrim Grini said Sunday that investigators are taking into account “the possibility that this was an Islamophobic act. It’s the one we’re working on first, but it’s not the only one,” he said.
“Racism and hatred based on religion will never have a place in France,” French President Emmanuel Macron said. “Religious freedom is inviolable.”
Grini said images of the stabbing he has viewed were “horrifying.” He said police were working nonstop to find the suspect, with 70 investigators deployed.
“We’re being particularly vigilant to make sure he doesn’t claim any more victims,” Grini said. The suspect was born in France in 2004, lived in the area and did not have a criminal record, Grini said.
The Grand Mosque of Paris condemned the attack in a statement and said the victim, a young man identified only as Aboubakar in French media, had just finished cleaning the mosque when he was killed.
It called on authorities to quickly shed light on the motive behind the attack, asking judicial authorities to say whether it is being treated as a terrorist act and to note its “scale and seriousness … for the safety of all.”
Justice Minister Gerald Darmanin called the stabbing a “despicable murder” that “wounds the hearts of all believers, of all Muslims in France.”
The SOS Racisme campaign group joined the calls for more clarity in the investigation and took part in a march organized later Sunday at La Grand Combe in support of the victim. Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau traveled to the nearby town of Ales to meet with local Muslim faith officials and pledged to stop the attacker.
“Of course, the possibility of an anti-Muslim act is not at all neglected; quite the contrary,” he said. “It is out of the question to tolerate this kind of act in this hyper-violent society.”
In Paris, a rally against Islamophobia and in tribute to the victim was held at the Place de la République.