Paris airport attacker was on terror watch-list

A MAN who was shot dead at an airport in Paris yesterday after trying to grab a soldier’s gun was on France’s terror watch-list.

Reports claimed the man – named locally as Ziyed Ben Belgacem – sent a chilling text message to family before the attack.

It has also been claimed Ben Belgacem was a convicted criminal with links to radical Islam.

Footage of a dead Ben Belgacem lying sprawled on the floor of the terminal building was shown on French television.

Just two hours before the shooting at the city’s Orly airport, a female police officer in a northern suburb of the city was shot in the face.

Her injuries are not believed to be life-threatening.

Authorities say that shooting – where three other officers were also shot – was also carried out by 39-year-old Ben Belgacem.

After the attack he sent his family a text saying: “I’ve screwed up, I’ve shot a policeman”.

Police later detained Ben Belgacem’s brother and father, and raided his home in Garges-les-Gonesse, a Paris suburb.

A large security perimeter was set up as police began the painstaking investigation into his troubled life.

Reports said Ben Belgacem was from a family of Tunisian origin, and was described as a career criminal who had been convicted of armed robbery and drug offences before.

The drama began after a routine police checkpoint check in the early hours of the morning in the Parisian suburb of Stains.

After being stopped by cops, Ben Belgacem fired at them with a pellet gun before escaping in a car later found abandoned in a southern part of the city.

Officials said he then threatened a female driver before stealing her Renault Clio car and making his way to Orly airport, France’s second biggest airport.

The car was later found abandoned with reports a bloodstained T-shirt was found in the back.

In the airport’s southern terminal he assaulted a patrol of three counter-terrorism officers, wrestling a female soldier to the floor and trying to take her rifle from her.

Authorities said she refused to let go of the gun and her two fellow soldiers opened fire on him.

The female soldier was uninjured and was “doing fine” after the “extremely violent” attack, a French Army spokesperson said. No-one else in the busy terminal was hurt but up to 3000 travellers were evacuated.

The airport was emptied while it was searched by bomb disposal squads. No explosives were found.

Last night, the southern terminal remained close but the other terminal, known as the west terminal, is believed to have been re-opened.

Witnesses said they saw travellers run for their lives when the shooting began.

American Ellie Guttetter, 18, said: “The people running were passengers and flight attendants.

“It was pretty chaotic and everyone was panicking – it was scary.”

All flights in an out of Orly – which is served by airlines including British Airways and easyJet – were suspended as the airport was shut and roads were blocked.

Officials said the city’s anti-terrorism division was leading the investigation.