6 lightly hurt in Paris station ‘criminal’ knife attack; attacker shot, arrested

PARIS, France — Six people were lightly wounded on Wednesday by a man wielding a knife at the busy Gare du Nord station in Paris, police and prosecutors said.

The man was arrested by police at the station — a busy commuter hub that also serves as a departure point for trains to northern France, London and northern Europe — after they opened fire and wounded him, said a police source, who asked not to be named.

Police were treating the stabbings as a criminal act, not a terrorist attack, a source close to the case said.

The attacker sustained a life-threatening chest injury as police fired several rounds, the source said.

An off-duty police officer was the first to act against the attacker, Le Parisien daily said.

“An individual injured several people this morning at the Gare du Nord,” Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin wrote on Twitter.

“He was quickly neutralized. Thank you to the police for their effective and courageous response.”

French police cordon off an area at Paris’ Gare du Nord train station, after several people were lightly wounded by a man wielding a knife on January 11, 2023 (JULIEN DE ROSA / AFP)

The incident cased major delays to trains at the station in the early morning rush, according to the live departure board of operator SNCF.

Police cordoned off the station, and set up large white curtains around the attack scene.

The Gare du Nord is one of the world’s busiest train stations with 700,000 travelers per day.

The attacker’s motive was not immediately clear. France remains on a state of heightened security alert after a spate of deadly attacks by Islamist radicals, and others, since 2015.

In December, a suspected gunman killed three Kurds in Paris. The 69-year old suspect confessed to a “pathological” hatred for foreigners.