New counter-terrorism task force in France as Notre Dame attacker identified

By Emmanuel Jarry

France has created a new counter-terrorism task force, bringing together all the intelligence services to coordinate the response to attacks.

The news comes one day after an Algerian student assaulted police officers outside Notre Dame cathedral.

Newly elected President Emmanuel Macron, portrayed by rivals as weak on security during the presidential campaign, ordered the task force to be set up last month to steer France's multiple security agencies from his Elysee Palace offices.

The performance of France's intelligence services has come under close scrutiny since the November 2015 attacks on Paris, when militant gunmen and suicide bombers struck entertainment venues across the capital, killing 130 people.

In total, more than 230 people have been killed in a wave of attacks in France either claimed by or inspired by Islamic State over the past two-and-a-half years.

In Tuesday's attack, a 40-year-old Algerian student armed with a hammer and kitchen knives shouted "this is for Syria" as he struck at and wounded a policeman.

He was then shot by police officers.

A source close to the investigation named the assailant as Algerian-born Farid Ikken, a PhD student of communications registered since 2014 at a university in the eastern city of Metz.

No signs of radicalisation

The source said that a video in which Ikken pledged allegiance to Islamic State had been found in his flat in Cergy-Pontoise, northwest of Paris, during a police raid on Tuesday evening.

Government spokesman Christophe Castaner said the assailant had not previously "shown any signs of radicalisation".

Castaner added that Iken was being held in custody in hospital and that his words "this is for Syria" meant his attack was being treated as a terrorist incident.

Macron appointed Pierre de Bousquet de Florian to head the new intelligence task force known as the National Centre for Counter Terrorism.

It will be under the direct authority of the president.

The new task force chief once headed France's DST internal intelligence service, which was disbanded under former president Nicolas Sarkozy.

It will include some 20 people representing the various security services and operate 24 hours, seven days a week.

"This has been created to ensure that the intelligence services truly cooperate," said a French presidency official.