A French soldier patrolling Paris was stabbed and wounded just days before the opening ceremony of the 2024 Olympics. The incident took place outside the Gare de l’Est train station in eastern Paris on Monday. The city has been on high security alert in anticipation of the Summer Games starting on July 26. The soldier sustained a shoulder blade injury but was reported to be in stable condition following the attack.
The attacker, identified as a 40-year-old man named Christian Ingondo from Congo, was taken into custody. He was later transferred to a psychiatric hospital under police supervision. Investigations into the attempted murder and the suspect's background are currently ongoing.
According to the Paris Public Prosecutor's office, Ingondo had been under judicial investigation for murder charges in 2018. However, the charges were dropped in 2020, and he was ordered to undergo mandatory hospitalization.
The Sentinelle force, comprising thousands of troops tasked with domestic security in France, was established to protect prominent French sites following a series of deadly Islamic State extremist attacks in 2015. Soldiers in the Sentinelle force have previously been targeted.
For the Olympics, Paris has deployed approximately 30,000 police officers daily, with numbers peaking at 45,000 for the opening ceremony on the Seine river. Additionally, around 18,000 military personnel are assisting in ensuring security, with many of them accommodated in a large camp set up on the outskirts of Paris.
