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Armed Attacker Killed In Paris On Anniversary Of Charlie Hebdo Attacks

by Sean Levinson
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A man armed with a butcher's knife was reportedly shot dead as he tried to attack a Paris police station earlier today.

According to The Guardian, the attacker yelled, "Allah Akbar," meaning, "God is great," as he approached the police station in Goutte d'Or on the one-year anniversary of the attacks on satirical French magazine Charlie Hebdo.

According to reports, no one was hurt before police fired about four shots outside the station.

Police found wires protruding from a pouch under the attacker's coat, but a police robot determined the device did not contain any explosives.

The attack occurred as French President François Hollande concluded a speech discussing new police measures to more efficiently combat terrorism, the BBC reports.

Hollande reportedly said the numerous police officers who were killed by terrorists in January of 2015 “died so that we could live in freedom."

French brothers Saïd and Chérif Kouachi killed 10 Charlie Hebdo employees and two police officers one year ago today, before being shot dead by police two days later.

The next day, a female police officer was killed by Amedy Coulibaly, who knew the Kouachi brothers.

Coulibaly then killed four people while taking hostages at a kosher grocery store in Paris on January 9, the same day in which he was killed by police.

The Guardian reports Hollande said all divisions of the police force must communicate more frequently.

He reportedly explained,

Faced with these adversaries, it is essential that every service – police, gendarmerie, intelligence, military – work in perfect harmony, with the greatest transparency, and that they share all the information at their disposal.

Approximately 200 people were given travel restrictions to prevent them from traveling to Syria or Iraq, Hollande added.

He also announced police will soon be given more authority to search suspects, as well as their homes, without permission from judges, and they were even given permission to carry their firearms more often.

By 2017, the French police force will increase by 5,000, and 2,000 jobs are being added to intelligence services.

Citations: Man wielding knife and wearing fake suicide vest killed at Paris police station (The Guardian), Charlie Hebdo anniversary Paris police shoot man dead (BBC)