Suspect in France Knife Attack Charged with Terrorism, Murder

Two people were killed in a knife attack in Romans-sur-Isere on April 4. (AFP)
Two people were killed in a knife attack in Romans-sur-Isere on April 4. (AFP)
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Suspect in France Knife Attack Charged with Terrorism, Murder

Two people were killed in a knife attack in Romans-sur-Isere on April 4. (AFP)
Two people were killed in a knife attack in Romans-sur-Isere on April 4. (AFP)

A man who killed two people in a knife attack in the southeastern French town of Romans-sur-Isere at the weekend has been charged with terrorism offences and murder, the French anti-terrorist prosecutor’s office said on Wednesday.

Five people were also wounded in Saturday's attack. The 33-year-old refugee from Sudan probably acted alone, "without having been given any orders by a terrorist organization", the office said in a statement.

It added that the man, who worked locally, had not been known to police forces or intelligence services. He had arrived in France in August 2016 and obtained refugee status in June 2017.

During a subsequent search of his home, authorities found handwritten documents that included arguments about religion and a complaint about living in a “country of non-believers.”

France has experienced a wave of attacks by extremists in recent years.

Bombings and shootings in November 2015 at the Bataclan theater and other sites around Paris killed 130 people, and in July 2016 a militant drove a truck through a crowd celebrating Bastille Day in Nice, killing 86.



Bodies of Four Migrants Found as Boat Sinks off Greek Island of Lesbos

A dinghy transporting dozens of refugees and migrants is pulled towards Greece's Lesbos island after being rescued by a war ship during their sea crossing between Türkiye and Greece on February 29, 2020. Aris Messinis, AFP/File picture
A dinghy transporting dozens of refugees and migrants is pulled towards Greece's Lesbos island after being rescued by a war ship during their sea crossing between Türkiye and Greece on February 29, 2020. Aris Messinis, AFP/File picture
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Bodies of Four Migrants Found as Boat Sinks off Greek Island of Lesbos

A dinghy transporting dozens of refugees and migrants is pulled towards Greece's Lesbos island after being rescued by a war ship during their sea crossing between Türkiye and Greece on February 29, 2020. Aris Messinis, AFP/File picture
A dinghy transporting dozens of refugees and migrants is pulled towards Greece's Lesbos island after being rescued by a war ship during their sea crossing between Türkiye and Greece on February 29, 2020. Aris Messinis, AFP/File picture

The bodies of four migrants - one boy, one girl and two women - have been recovered from a sinking boat off the Greek island of Lesbos while another 23 migrants were rescued, Greece's coastguard said on Thursday.

The boat was detected by a patrolling coastguard vessel at about 2 a.m. (2300 GMT). A search and rescue operation was still ongoing, a coastguard official said. It was not immediately clear how many people may have been on the boat, Reuters reported.

Greece, in the southeast corner of the European Union, has long been a favored gateway to Europe for migrants and refugees from the Middle East, Africa and Asia. In 2015 nearly 1 million people landed on its islands.

Last year, about 54,000 migrants reached Greece, the second largest number in southern Europe behind Italy. The vast majority of them arrived by sea, according to data from the UN refugee agency UNHCR.