A Muslim man, originally from Kabul, Afghanistan, left in a coma after Tuesday's shooting in Strasbourg, has died, his brother told Euronews.

Kamal Naghchband was a 45-year-old mechanic who has three children, said his brother, Mokhtar Naghchband.

He lived in France for 18 years and had French nationality, he added.

"We are bereaved because our city of Strasbourg, an exemplary city in terms of living together, was hit hard by a murderous act," said Eyup Şahin, regional president of Strasbourg's Eyyûb Sultan Mosque, in a statement.

At around 20h CET on Tuesday a single gunman opened fire on a street near Strasbourg's famous Christmas market.

Two people died in the attack and another was declared brain dead, Paris prosecutor Remi Heitz said.

At least 12 people were wounded, six seriously.

The gunman, who is on the run, is on France's "fiche S" watchlist of individuals thought to pose a security risk to the country.

French Interior Minister Christophe Castaner announced that the country's "Vigipirate" security threat level would be raised in light of the attack.

Do you like what Euronews does? Click to sign up for our WhatsApp newsletter, a twice-daily selection of the top stories from around Europe. </s> Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption French police at the scene of the attack in Paris

A knifeman has killed one person and wounded four in a suspected terror attack in central Paris, French officials say.

The attacker was then shot dead by police in the Opéra district. Witnesses say they heard him shout "Allah Akbar".

So-called Islamic State (IS) later said one of its "soldiers" had carried out the attack on Saturday evening.

Judicial sources told French media the attacker was a man born in 1997 in the southern Russian republic of Chechnya.

The sources said his parents had been held for questioning.

Interior Minister Gérard Collomb said the victim of the attack was a 29-year-old man, but gave no further details.

French President Emmanuel Macron tweeted (in French): "France has once again paid in blood, but will not give an inch to the enemies of freedom."

How did the events unfold?

The attacker began stabbing passers-by at about 21:00 local time (19:00 GMT) on the rue Monsigny.

Eyewitnesses described him as a young man with brown hair and a beard, dressed in black tracksuit trousers.

The man tried to enter several bars and restaurants but was blocked by people inside. Police arrived at the scene within minutes.

They first tried to stop the assailant with a stun-gun before shooting him dead.

An eyewitness, named as Gloria, told AFP news agency: "We didn't know what was going on, we were quickly moved inside the bar, I went outside and I saw a man lying on the floor."

Image copyright AFP Image caption Forensic officers have been examining the scene of the attack

Jonathan, a waiter at a local restaurant, told AFP: "I saw him with a knife in his hand. He looked crazy."

He said a woman the attacker had stabbed ran into into the restaurant bleeding. The assailant tried to follow her inside, but was fended off and finally fled.

Two of the wounded in the attack are in a serious condition but do not have life-threatening injuries.

Later in the evening the IS group said it was behind the attack, in a brief statement posted on its news outlet.

How did French authorities react?

The anti-terrorism unit of the Paris prosecutor's office has launched an investigation.

Prime Minister Edouard Philippe said police were on the scene five minutes after an emergency call and the attacker was killed "less than nine minutes later".

Mr Collomb praised police for their "cool response". He said his first thoughts were "with the victims of this heinous act".

Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo tweeted (in French): "Tonight, our city was bruised."

"I want to tell them that all Parisians are on their side," she added.

Image copyright AFP Image caption The Opera district is renowned for its nightlife

How has France been countering security threats?

France has been on high alert following a series of attacks. More than 230 people have been killed by IS-inspired jihadists in the past three years.

The deadliest violence occurred on 13 November 2015, when gunmen and suicide bombers struck various venues in Paris almost simultaneously - killing a total 130 people.

After winning last year's elections, President Macron pledged that fighting Islamist terrorism would be his top foreign policy priority.

Defeating IS in Iraq and Syria must go hand-in-hand with anti-terror measures in Africa, he said. </s> Andreea Cristea. a 31-year-old Romanian tourist who was knocked into the River Thames from Westminster Bridge during an attack on Britain's Houses of Parliament more than two weeks ago has died, London police said Friday, April 7, 2017.

LONDON — A 31-year-old Romanian tourist who was knocked into the River Thames from Westminster Bridge during an attack on Britain's Houses of Parliament more than two weeks ago has died, London police said Friday.

Andreea Cristea was rescued from the cold river after the attack, in which British attacker Khalid Masood drove a rented SUV into pedestrians on the bridge and then fatally stabbed an unarmed police officer outside Parliament.

Her death brings the death toll from the attack to five, plus Masood, who was shot dead by police.

Her family and Burnaz described Cristea as "our shining ray of light that will forever keep on shining in our hearts," and said they would be donating to charity all the money raised to help her since the March 22 attack.

"After fighting for her life for over two weeks, our beloved and irreplaceable Andreea — wonderful daughter, sister, partner, dedicated friend and the most unique and life-loving person you can imagine — was cruelly and brutally ripped away from our lives in the most heartless and spiritless way," they said in a statement.

They said there are no words to describe the emptiness they feel and thanked medical personnel for their round-the-clock help.

Police said she had been receiving extensive treatment in a London hospital since the attack but that life support was withdrawn Thursday afternoon.

St. Bartholomew's Hospital, where Cristea was treated, said it was "greatly saddened" by her death.

Footage taken at the time showed Cristea falling into the river during the attack. Witnesses saw her lying face-down in the Thames before she was rescued and rushed to an emergency room for emergency surgery after being diagnosed with a blood clot on the brain.

Burnaz needed surgery on his foot but has been discharged from the hospital. He was seen in a wheelchair at a memorial service for victims held last week.

Also killed in the attack were Utah man Kurt Cochran, 54; Britons Leslie Rhodes, 75, and Aysha Frade, 44; and 48-year-old police officer Keith Palmer.

Police believe 52-year-old Masood, who had convictions for violence, acted alone and was motivated by Islamist extremism. </s> Hundreds of people turned out Friday for the funeral of Kamal Naghchband, a father-of-three who fled violence in Afghanistan only to be gunned down and killed in this week's Strasbourg Christmas market attack.

Naghchband, 45, had fled strife in Afghanistan to build a new life in France but became one of four people killed when a jihadist gunmen attacked the market in the northeastern French city on Tuesday.

"He was going to see the Christmas market and -- in front of his children -- he took a bullet," one of his cousins told AFP.

Described by relatives as friendly and something of a joker, Naghchband survived a day in hospital in a coma before succumbing to his wounds.

He was the joint manager of a garage near the Strasbourg mosque where he would go to pray and where his funeral was held on Friday.

"Our brother martyr Kamal tells us 'enjoy the moments you have in this world to do good'", Imam Eyup Sahin said, standing before a coffin covered with a green cloth and a smiling portrait of Naghchband.

"Do you think that Allah allows us to kill someone? It is impossible! Islam is a religion of peace (which) no act of terrorism can represent," he said.

"The Prophet says 'he who kills a person, it is as if he had killed all humanity," continued the Imam.

"The best human being," he added, is not "the one who is most helpful for Muslims, for Jews, Christians or atheists, but for all humanity".

Naghchband had lived in France for around 20 years. According to his Facebook page, he was from Kabul and studied in Mazar-i-Sharif, in the north of the country.

"He was charismatic, kind, and joked with everyone. People didn't go to his garage just to have their car repaired but to have coffee with him," said one relative.

"He was very welcoming."

After prayers, held in the courtyard of the mosque, Naghchband's body was covered with a French flag and carried before a large crowd of mourners to a cemetery in the south of the city.

One unnamed mourner described Naghchband as a force for good, whatever ills befell him.

"Whatever bad things were done to him, he only ever did good." </s> An investigation has been opened in France after a vegan activist posted on social media that they had "zero compassion" for the butcher who was killed in the recent terrorist attack in the southwestern part of the country.

"Well, what, it shocks you that an assassin is killed by a terrorist? Not me, I have zero compassion for him," the person wrote in a message discovered by French authorities on Monday. The activist added that the butcher's death was "justice," before quickly deleting the post, according to a judicial source cited by 20 Minutes. She was later taken into custody, according to Le Parisien.

The comment was in reference to last week's terrorist attack on a Super U market in Trèbes, France, which was claimed by Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL). The attack saw two civilians - including butcher Christian Medves - killed. Others were wounded and hostages were taken.

A policeman at the scene, who offered to take the place of the hostages, also died as a result of the attack after succumbing to his injuries.

That officer, Lieutenant-Colonel Arnaud Beltrame, has been hailed a hero by the French government. However, one French politician took to Twitter to celebrate his death.

“Whenever a policeman is shot…I think of my friend Remi Fraisse,” former French parliamentary candidate Stephane Poussier wrote, referring to a Green activist killed by a police stun grenade during a 2014 protest. "And this time it was a colonel, great! Additionally, it means one less Macron voter,” he continued. Poussier received a one-year suspended sentence on Tuesday, after being charged with justifying terrorism.

A national ceremony was held for Medves at the Hotel des Invalides in Paris on Wednesday. French President Emmanuel Macron awarded the deceased officer France's highest accolade, the Legion d'Honneur, saying that the 44-year-old symbolized the "French spirit of resistance."

If you like this story, share it with a friend! </s> French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday said a policeman who died after offering himself as a hostage in a jihadist attack last week was "full of French resistance," as he led a national ceremony in Paris in honor of the man.

Lieutenant-Colonel Arnaud Beltrame, 44, was the last person to be killed in the shooting spree that left four people dead on March 23, in the southwestern towns of Carcassonne and Trebes.

Beltrame had taken the place of a woman who had been held as the final hostage in a supermarket by 25-year-old gunman Redouane Lakdim, who pledged allegiance to the Islamic State.

Macron compared Arnaud Beltrame's actions to those of France's World War II heroes and said his example would "remain etched in French hearts."

"To accept to die so the innocent can live — that is the essence of what it means to be a soldier," Macron said. "Others, even many who are brave, would have wavered or hesitated."

He had hoped he could negotiate with the attacker once customers and staff had been cleared from the supermarket, but Lakdim shot him and slit his throat.

Macron gave the eulogy at Les Invalides, a historic complex, which is home to France's army museum and a veterans' retirement center.

About 200 of Beltrame's colleagues from the gendarmerie, a national police force, which is part of the military, attended the ceremony in Paris.

Across the country, police stations paused for a minute's silence to honor their fallen colleague.

Macron's government has been criticized by right-wing opponents who say the attack was preventable.

Lakdim had been on a list of suspected terrorists since 2014 and was being monitored. He also had previous convictions for drug use and handling a banned weapon.

Marine Le Pen, leader of the far-right National Front, accused the government of using the grief over Beltrame's death to "escape from its own incompetence and cowardice" in failing to combat Islamic extremism.

Prime Minister Edouard Philippe responded to the criticism on Tuesday in parliament saying, "Those who say ignorantly that this attack could have been avoided, those who promise people zero risk — I say to them, these people bear a heavy responsibility in speaking so casually."

Philippe dismissed right-wing proposals to introduce a complete ban on ultra-conservative Salafism or "preemptively" detain radical Islamists.

France already has a "legal arsenal" to "understand, monitor and sanction" extremists, Philippe said.

In France, more than 200 people have died in jihadist attacks over the past three years.

This article was originally published on DW.com. Its content is created separately from USA TODAY. </s> The Latest on the Islamic attack in southern France (all times local):

French authorities say a 17-year-old male friend of an attacker who killed hostages in a supermarket in southern France last week has been released uncharged from custody.

The Paris prosecutor’s office said the youth was freed Tuesday “in the absence of incriminating elements at this stage.”

A witness told investigators the young man was a “very good friend” of 25-year-old gunman Radouane Lakdim and was under his religious influence.

The youth, who denied any involvement in the attacks during his questioning, had been in custody since hours after Lakdim killed four people in a rampage Friday before being killed by police who stormed the supermarket in Trebes.

After being questioned by police, Lakdim’s girlfriend was to face French investigating judges later Tuesday night. The prosecutor’s office has asked them to charge her with criminal terrorist association.

French lawmakers have paid tribute to the victims of an Islamic extremist attack at a supermarket in southern France.

Lawmakers at the National Assembly in Paris observed a minute of silence Tuesday for the four people who died in Friday’s attack.

Prime Minister Edouard Philippe said since January 2015, French intelligence services have thwarted 51 attacks. In addition, 17 other attacks have failed and 11 have taken place.

He says “this is a difficult combat we will have to fight, a terrible combat, a hand-to-hand struggle, in which we will have successes — we had some — and in which we might have failures.”

A national memorial is being held Wednesday in Paris to honor Lt-Col. Arnaud Beltrame, the officer who lost his life after swapping himself with a hostage. </s> The Islamic State jihadist group on Monday claimed an attack that killed four foreign cyclists in Tajikistan in what was originally reported as a hit-and-run road accident.

The victims, two Americans, a Swiss and Dutch citizen, were struck by a car and attacked on Sunday while on a popular cycle route in the Danghara district, about 100 kilometres (60 miles) south of the capital Dushanbe.

"(The suspects) had knives and firearms," said interior minister Ramazon Hamro Rahimzoda, adding that two other cyclists, Swiss and Dutch nationals, were injured and hospitalised.

"One tourist received a knife wound and is being given medical assistance. The victim's condition is stable," said Rahimzoda, without mentioning a nationality.

Another cyclist with the group, a French citizen, escaped without injury and had been questioned by police, he added.

In a statement published Monday, IS said that a "detachment from the soldiers of the Caliphate" had carried out the attack against "citizens of Crusader coalition countries," according to intelligence monitor SITE.

Five people suspected of involvement in the attack were killed by police and at least four suspects detained, according to separate police accounts.

Among the dead suspects was 21-year-old Jafariddin Yusufov, the owner of the Daewoo Leganza car that struck the tourists on Sunday afternoon, local officials said.

A Belgian cyclist who said he arrived at the scene after the attack told Flemish broadcaster VRT that he saw "several cyclists on the ground. Some were completely shocked".

"When I asked what had happened, the first thing someone said was that they had been hit by a car and that the people who had come out had started stabbing them with knives," cyclist Nicolas Moerman said.

The Dutch foreign ministry told AFP on Monday that one of the dead tourists was a 56-year-old man who was cycling the route with his 58-year-old partner, without providing names.

The cyclists were travelling on a road that adjoins the famous Pamir Highway, a Soviet-era road surrounded by stunning mountain scenery.

"We can't say if it is an act of terror," Rahimzoda said earlier on Monday.

"We are considering all possibilities," he added but said that "state institutions are being guarded... to provide safety for citizens and tourists".

The US embassy in Tajikistan confirmed that two of the fatalities were American citizens.

The Swiss foreign ministry on Monday told AFP that Switzerland "calls for every effort to be made to shed light on this serious incident".

"If it is established that this was a terrorist attack, it will be noted in (Switzerland's) future travel advice for Tajikistan," said ministry spokeswoman Silvia Muller while noting that the motive for the attack was still unclear.

A French diplomatic source told AFP that the country's embassy in Tajikistan was "engaged in facilitating the return" of the French survivor of the attack.

Tajikistan's President Emomali Rakhmon sent notes of condolence to the US, Switzerland and the Netherlands over the deaths and called for increased security throughout the country at a special meeting on Monday with the country's law enforcement chiefs.

Tajik authorities had declared 2018 "a year of tourism" in the former Soviet republic.

In June, Rakhmon said that state officials found to be soliciting bribes from tourists would be deemed "traitors" and fired from their positions.

Visitor numbers had quadrupled in the first five months of 2018 compared the same period last year, he said.

Tajikistan is the poorest of the ex-Soviet republics and has been ruled by Rakhmon, 65, since 1992. </s> DUSHANBE, TAJIKISTAN (AFP) - The Islamic State extremist group on Monday (July 30) claimed an attack that killed four foreign cyclists in Tajikistan in what was originally reported as a hit-and-run road accident.

The victims, two Americans, a Swiss and Dutch citizen, were struck by a car and attacked on Sunday (July 29) while on a popular cycle route in the Danghara district, about 100 kilometres south of the capital Dushanbe.

"(The suspects) had knives and firearms," said interior minister Ramazon Hamro Rahimzoda, adding that two other cyclists, Swiss and Dutch nationals, were injured and hospitalised.

"One tourist received a knife wound and is being given medical assistance. The victim's condition is stable," said Rahimzoda, without mentioning a nationality.

Another cyclist with the group, a French citizen, escaped without injury and had been questioned by police, he added.

In a statement published Monday, ISIS said that a "detachment from the soldiers of the Caliphate" had carried out the attack against "citizens of Crusader coalition countries," according to intelligence monitor SITE.

Five people suspected of involvement in the attack were killed by police and at least four suspects detained, according to separate police accounts.

Among the dead suspects was 21-year-old Jafariddin Yusufov, the owner of the Daewoo Leganza car that struck the tourists on Sunday afternoon, local officials said.

A Belgian cyclist who said he arrived at the scene after the attack told Flemish broadcaster VRT that he saw "several cyclists on the ground. Some were completely shocked".

"When I asked what had happened, the first thing someone said was that they had been hit by a car and that the people who had come out had started stabbing them with knives," cyclist Nicolas Moerman said.

The Dutch foreign ministry told AFP on Monday that one of the dead tourists was a 56-year-old man who was cycling the route with his 58-year-old partner, without providing names.

The cyclists were travelling on a road that adjoins the famous Pamir Highway, a Soviet-era road surrounded by stunning mountain scenery.

"We can't say if it is an act of terror," Rahimzoda said earlier on Monday.

"We are considering all possibilities," he added but said that "state institutions are being guarded... to provide safety for citizens and tourists".

The US embassy in Tajikistan confirmed that two of the fatalities were American citizens.

The Swiss foreign ministry on Monday told AFP that Switzerland "calls for every effort to be made to shed light on this serious incident".

"If it is established that this was a terrorist attack, it will be noted in (Switzerland's) future travel advice for Tajikistan," said ministry spokeswoman Silvia Muller while noting that the motive for the attack was still unclear.

A French diplomatic source told AFP that the country's embassy in Tajikistan was "engaged in facilitating the return" of the French survivor of the attack.

Tajikistan's President Emomali Rakhmon sent notes of condolence to the US, Switzerland and the Netherlands over the deaths and called for increased security throughout the country at a special meeting on Monday with the country's law enforcement chiefs.

Tajik authorities had declared 2018 "a year of tourism" in the former Soviet republic.

In June, Rakhmon said that state officials found to be soliciting bribes from tourists would be deemed "traitors" and fired from their positions.

Visitor numbers had quadrupled in the first five months of 2018 compared the same period last year, he said.

Tajikistan is the poorest of the ex-Soviet republics and has been ruled by Rakhmon, 65, since 1992.
A Frenchman originally from Afghanistan who was wounded and left brain-dead from the attack dies from his injuries.