Paris police stabbing: 'Isis-inspired' killer broadcast attack live on Facebook

Larossi Abballa stabbed police officer to death and killed his wife – but couple's three-year-old son survived

Larossi Abballa, 25, was convicted in 2013 of helping Islamist militants go to Pakistan

(Facebook)

The man who stabbed a French police chief outside his home reportedly broadcast the attack live on Facebook.

The attacker, who has been named in unconfirmed reports as Larossi Abballa, was given a prison sentence in 2013 for jihadi activities.

He reportedly shouted "Allahu Akbar" as he stabbed a policeman nine times in the stomach before holding the officer's wife and three-year-old son hostage in their home in the Paris suburb of Magnanville.

When negotiations failed, an armed police unit stormed the house and shot him dead. The chief's wife was found dead but their child was rescued unharmed.

It has also emerged the killer broadcast the attack live on Facebook, a source close to the investigation told CNN.

During the live broadcast, Abballa was allegedly shown to consider what to do about the couple's son, according to French jihad expert David Thomson.

The attack has been claimed by Isis, according to the website of the Amaq agency.

If that link is confirmed, it would be the first militant strike on French soil since the government imposed a state of emergency after the Paris attacks in November that killed 130 people.

Police vehicles at the scene near where a French police commander was stabbed to death in front of his home in the Paris suburb of Magnanville

(Reuters)

The 25-year-old attacker was being monitored by security and anti-terrorist services after he received a three-year prison sentence for helping Islamist militants go to Pakistan, police and government sources said.

After an emergency cabinet meeting chaired by President Francois Hollande, Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve told reporters: "An appalling terrorist act was committed yesterday in Magnanville by an individual who attacked a police officer and his wife, who was herself an official in a police station."

The attacker struck in the Paris suburb of Magnanville, about 50 km (30 miles) northwest of the French capital and about 20 km from Les Mureaux, where the police commander was stationed.

On a Facebook account said to belong to the attacker, a post announces his "success" in killing a police officer and his wife at their home, claiming that "the brothers in Sham [Isis territories]" are in contact with him.

The post continues: "I declare loudly and strongly my allegiance to the Emir Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

"I have responded to the call of Sheikh Abu Muhammad al-Adnani."

Isis spokesperson Abu Muhammad al-Adani has called for a series of lone wolf attacks during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.

Acknowledging possible defeat in the group’s strongholds of Mosul, in Iraq, Sirte, in Libya and Raqqa, in Syria, he urged followers to create a “month of calamity for infidels”.

French prosecutors have launched an anti-terrorism investigation into the double murder.