French police have made several arrests since a man went on a stabbing rampage, killing one and wounding several others in what President Emmanuel Macron called a "terrorist act,” anti-terror prosecutors told AFP Sunday.
The knife-wielding suspect, identified by prosecutors as a 37-year-old Algerian-born man, was arrested at the site of Saturday's attack in the eastern city of Mulhouse.
He was on a terrorism watchlist and subject to deportation orders.
A further three people were in custody in connection with the case Sunday, the PNAT prosecutors unit said, without giving details.
Local prosecutor Nicolas Heitz said the suspect, who he did not name, was registered on France's terrorist watchlist.
Speaking at the police station late Saturday, Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau said the man had "a schizophrenic profile" and his act had "a psychiatric dimension".
Retailleau said France had repeatedly attempted to expel him from the country, but Algeria refused to cooperate.
The rampage occurred around 4 pm (1500 GMT) near a busy market in Mulhouse, a city of around 110,000 people near the German border. At the time, demonstrators were rallying in support of the Democratic Republic of Congo.
A 69-year-old Portuguese man was fatally wounded while parking attendants and police were also hurt.
Two officers were seriously wounded, with one sustaining an injury to a carotid artery, and the other to the upper body, prosecutor Heitz told AFP, adding that the latter officer was able to leave hospital.
Three other officers suffered minor injuries, prosecutors said.
Macron later said there was "no doubt" that the incident was "a terrorist act.”
The government was determined to continue doing "everything to eradicate terrorism on our soil,” he added.
