2nd arrest after stabbing near Charlie Hebdo office

(Update: adds details of 2nd arrest, terror investigation, reaction)

Paris, Sep 25 (efe-epa).- A second suspect has been arrested in connection with a knife attack near the offices of satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo in Paris.

The incident is being investigated by anti-terrorism police.

Two people were seriously injured in the attack but their lives are not at risk, police sources told Efe.

The suspected perpetrator was detained in the nearby Bastille area of the French capital.

A second person was arrested later for alleged involvement in the incident.

French prosecutor Rémy Heitz told the press that a terror investigation has been opened due to the location of the attack and because it was carried out while the trial for a 2015 attack on Charlie Hebdo is being held.

The prosecutor’s office did not provide details about the detainees but French media have reported the main suspect is 18 years old and has a criminal record.

European Council President Charles Michel condemned the attack and expressed his solidarity with the French people.

“My thoughts go out to the victims of this cowardly act of violence. Terror has no place on European territory,” he said.

A security cordon was imposed around the Charlie Hebdo offices in the city’s eastern 11th arrondissement.

Several schools in nearby regions were put into lockdown after the incident, affecting thousands of pupils.

The attack was carried out on the third week of the trial into a 2015 terror attack on the satirical magazine.

On the morning of 7 January 2015 two well-armed gunmen walked into the Paris headquarters of satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo and shot 12 people dead.

Over the next two days, a third attacker killed four others and took hostages at a nearby Jewish supermarket.

Charlie Hebdo sparked protests across the Muslim world in 2006 when it published caricatures of the Prophet Muhammed, which it has repeated on several occasions since then, including on the first day of the trial at the beginning of this month.

A total of 14 defendants are on trial charged with terror offenses for their alleged involvement in helping the three attackers, all of whom were later killed by police. EFE-EPA

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