A French soldier was stabbed in the throat in a busy Parisian commercial district on Saturday, the Associated Press reported. The government said it was determining whether this attack had any links to the British soldier who was killed on a London street earlier in the week by suspected Islamic terrorists, the Associated Press reported.
French President Francois Hollande said the identity of the attacker who escaped was unknown and that the public should not be so quick as to jump to conclusions about the violent assault in which the victim was stabbed in the throat. The 23-year-old who was attacked was not in serious danger, however, the Interior Ministry said in a statement.
The French soldier was reportedly on a group patrol as part of a national protection program when he was attacked from behind, prosecutor Robert Gelli told BFM-TV.
This attack comes after Wednesday's brutal stabbing and killing of British solider Lee Rigby on a London street in which terrorists hacked him with a meat clever, almost decapitating him. Rigby was attacked while walking outside the Royal Artillery Barracks in the Woolwich area of south London.
Two Muslim hardliners identified the assailant as Michael Adebolajo, a Christian who converted to Islam. He attended several London demonstrations organization by al-Muhajiroun, a banned British radical group.
There more men were arrested on Saturday in the investigation of the London attack.
As for Saturday's attack near Paris, "there are elements - the sudden violence of the attack - that could lead one to believe there might be a comparison with what happened in London. But at this point, honestly, let us be prudent" Interior Minister Manuel Valls told France 2 Television.
Last year, three French paratroopers were killed by an Islamic extremist who then went on to kill four more people at a Jewish school in Toulouse.
