Paris attack : Narrow Escape for Bahraini official
Manama : A Bahraini official has spoken of his narrow escape after gunfire rattled the famed Champs-Elysees in Paris on Thursday sending tourists and local dash for their lives.
Surviving the gruesome attack was Bahrain News Agency Acting General Director Muhannad Sulaiman, who was in Paris on an official visit.
Sulaiman was in Paris to attend the meetings of the Federation of Arab News Agencies the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) and the French news agency, Agence France-Presse (AFP).
He was in a restaurant, a few metres away, as the burst of violence and rush of police action left visitors bewildered.
The attacker who opened fire with an automatic weapon killed one police officer and wounded two others, one of them seriously. A foreign tourist was hit in her knee by shrapnel.
The video shot by Sulaiman, using his mobile phone, tells the panic and the impact of the attack inside the restaurant, where men, women and children took cover under tables and benches.
The gunman, 39-year-old Frenchman Karim Cheurfi, was shot dead in return fire while trying to flee. The attack was later claimed by the Islamic State terrorist organisation. It was the first deadly jihadist attack in France since July.
IS jihadists have claimed deadly attacks in London, Berlin, Nice and now the bloodshed on the Champs Elysees.
Bahrain Condemns
The attack was strongly condemned by Bahrain in a statement issued by the Foreign Affairs Ministry, yesterday.
The ministry, in its statement, said, “Bahrain strongly condemns the terrorist attack on the French police on Champs-Elysées in Paris, which left a number of officers dead and injured.”
The statement also expressed solidarity with France and it people and backed “all efforts to safeguard its security and the safety of its citizens and residents.”
The ministry extended its sincere condolences to bereaved families, wishing a speedy recovery to the injured in the terrorist act, which is contrary to the principles of all religions and represents a threat to all human and moral values.
The ministry reiterated Bahrain’s rejection of violence, extremism and terrorism in all its forms, urging international cooperation and continued efforts to eliminate terrorism, which represents a common danger and a major threat to world safety and
stability.
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