A village in southern France has been left reeling after a young worshipper was fatally attacked inside a mosque during Friday prayers, as police continue their search for the suspect.
French police are continuing their hunt this weekend for a man suspected of killing a Muslim worshipper inside a mosque in the south of the country, while allegedly filming the brutal attack on a mobile phone and shouting insults against Islam.
The victim was fatally stabbed on Friday morning in the village of La Grand-Combe, in the Gard region of southern France.
According to regional prosecutor Abdelkrim Grini on Saturday, the attacker remains at large.
While the motive for the crime remains unclear, security camera footage reportedly shows the suspect hurling insults at "Allah" – the Arabic word for God.
Posting on X, the Grand Mosque of Paris condemned the attack, calling it an "abominable act of extreme gravity committed inside a mosque, a house of God.
"We call on the authorities to take stock of this crime, to quickly shed light on its particularly worrying motives and circumstances, and to find the perpetrator, who is being investigated for murder," it added.
French Prime Minister François Bayrou has denounced the stabbing, saying: "We stand with the victim's loved ones, with the believers who are so shocked. State resources are mobilised to ensure the killer is apprehended and punished".
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Possible Islamophobic motive
The alleged attacker is said to have recorded the attack on his phone, capturing distressing footage of the victim in agony, which he later sent to another person.
That individual briefly posted it on social media before quickly removing it.
According to another source speaking to the AFP news agency, the suspect has been identified as a French national of Bosnian descent, though he has yet to be apprehended.
"The suspect is being actively pursued. Authorities are treating this matter with the utmost seriousness," said prosecutor Grini.
He added that investigators were keeping all possibilities open, including the likelihood that the attack could have had an Islamophobic motive. The French anti-terrorism prosecutor’s office is considering whether to formally take over the case.
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Community in shock
The victim and the attacker were alone in the mosque at the time of the assault.
After initially praying alongside the young man, the attacker suddenly turned violent, stabbing the victim up to 50 times before fleeing the scene.
The tragedy only came to light later that morning, when other worshippers arrived at the mosque for Friday prayers and discovered the body.
Prosecutor Grini said the victim, believed to be between 23 and 24 years old, was a regular attendee at the mosque and well-known within the community.
In contrast, the assailant had never been seen there before.
Several locals described the victim as a young man originally from Mali, who had moved to the village a few years ago and had become a highly respected and much-loved member of the community.
