More innocent people will die by terror, says French PM

French Prime Minister Manuel Valls defends the security forces Wednesday after the first deadly jihadist attack on the nation’s soil since the Paris massacres last November.

Valls rejects criticism that the authorities could have thwarted the assault, in which a knife-wielding attacker killed a police officer and his partner at their home.

“I will not let anyone say there was any negligence or lack of judgement” by the security forces, he tells France Inter radio.

He notes that a lone attack was hard to prevent and repeats a warning that terrorism was an inevitable threat.

“We will experience further attacks in the future because we are facing a terrorist organization which is on the retreat in Syria and Iraq and which is projecting itself in our countries in various forms… in order to sow fear and division,” Valls says.

“More innocent people will lose their lives. It’s very hard to say this… but unfortunately it is the truth,” he says.

— AFP

French Prime Minister Manuel Valls (L), and French President Francois Hollande (R), walk back to the Elysee palace on June 15, 2016, in Paris after a ceremony at the Ministry of Interior to pay a tribute to a French policeman and his partner, who were killed on June 13 by a man claiming allegiance to the Islamic State group.
(AFP PHOTO / ALAIN JOCARD)