Woman in France slashes two and yells Allahu Akbar.

A forensic officer examines the scene of the crime. AFP.

A woman in France has been arrested after slashing two people with a box cutter and yelling Allahu Akbar. AFP. One person was slashed in the chest while another was wounded in the face. Neither wound is life threatening and the attacker was subdued immediately by a heroic bystander. She claimed that Allah had told her to attack but no links to ISIS or other terrorist groups were found. The woman is believed to be mentally ill. 

My Comment:

I'm not sure if this counts as a terror attack or not. In favor of it being a terror attack is the fact that this was religiously motivated. The suspect was clearly acting out of religious beliefs when she attacked the civilians and even screamed Allahu Akbar, the war cry of most Muslim terrorists. She certainly acted like a terrorist.

On the other hand, no links to ISIS or other terror groups has been found so far. That isn't that uncommon for "lone wolf" attackers and often the link is just the terrorist reading propaganda online, but this really doesn't seem like the kind of attack that has direct links to a terror organization. Furthermore it's pretty clear that this woman is mentally ill. 

That being said, one of the side effects of terrorism is it provokes marginal people like this woman into acting. I am guessing that even if she was hearing voices, the context of what those voices told her to do came from the culture of France, where terrorism is a major issue. Even if this woman had no direct ties to terrorism and wasn't acting in the name of a cause, I am guessing that terrorism was a big part of why she did what she did. And even if she did had links to terrorism, it isn't surprising that ISIS or whoever would exploit her in this way. They have long used people that have mental issues as potential attackers. 

Thankfully this attack wasn't that serious. A couple of people were wounded but nobody was killed. I do have to say that getting slashed in the face is pretty terrible. That is likely going to leave a scar that will last for life and be immediately visible to everyone. Very unfortunate. 

I also have to say that a applaud the heroic actions of the electrician that stopped this woman. He didn't give his full name but his first name was Sebastian. Stopping someone that is attacking someone else is always a brave act but doubly so when that person is armed and you are not. I hope he gets the credit he deserves even though he seems to be pretty humble about what happened.