Paris attack: Chechen President identifies knifeman – and says France is solely to blame for his murderous rampage

'I consider it necessary to state that all responsibility for the fact that Khasan Azimov went on the road of crime lies completely with the authorities of France'

Chechnya's president, Ramzan Kadyrov, has identified the attacker who killed one man and injured four others in central Paris before being shot dead by police as Khamzat Azimov.

French media also named Azimov as the 20-year-old French citizen born in Chechnya who attacked by-passers with a knife in a busy area popular with tourists near the Opera Garnier on Saturday night.

Chechnya's strongman President Kadyrov said France bears responsibility for the fatal knife attack.

"I consider it necessary to state that all responsibility for the fact that Khasan Azimov went on the road of crime lies completely with the authorities of France," he said.

"He was only born in Chechnya, and his growing up, the formation of his personality, his views and persuasions occurred in French society."

On Sunday, police arrested a friend of the attacker in the eastern city of Strasbourg, an official source has said.

The man, who is being held for questioning, was also born in 1997 - the same year as the attacker - the source added.

The attacker's parents are also being questioned after their son was shot dead by police when he threatened to kill officers.

French media reports that Azimov arrived in France with his parents at the start of the 2000s. He is reported to have lived in Nice and Strasbourg among the Chechen community, French newspaper Le Monde reports.

Azimov and his mother obtained French citizenship in 2010, French government spokesman Benjamin Griveaux said in an interview with reporters.

Mr Griveaux said Azimov was listed as a suspected radical who could pose a threat to national security in 2016.

According to an official source cited by Le Monde, Azimov had ties with a group of young people trying to reach Syria to fight with Isis which included other people of Chechen origin.

However, he is reported to have no criminal record.

A 29-year-old man was killed in the attack and the four people injured, including a man from Luxembourg, are now out of danger, said French interior minister Gerard Collomb.

Isis claimed responsibility for the attack which is being investigated by counterterrorism authorities. In a statement, Isis claimed the atrocity was in response to its calls to target countries bombing its territories in Syria and Iraq.

France has participated in a US-led coalition fighting Isis in Iraq and Syria, and it also intervened in Mali to push back an Islamist rebellion in the West African state.

This would be the first time an assailant of Chechen origin has carried out an attack in France.

According to Jean-Charles Brisard, president of the Terrorism Analysis Centre, between seven and eight per cent of French people involved in terrorist groups in Syria and Iraq are of Chechen origin.

French President Emmanuel Macron said France would "not yield an inch to the enemies of freedom," and praised police for "neutralising the terrorist".

France has been on high alert since Paris was the site of the deadliest Isis attack in Europe on 13 November 2015, when attackers armed with guns and suicide vests killed 130 people in coordinated attacks at the Bataclan concert halls, Stade de France and restaurants.

More than 245 people have been killed in attacks commissioned or inspired by Isis in France since 2015. They have included knife attacks such as the one mounted in the southern city of Marseilles last October.