Police shoot unarmed woman wearing Islamic veil and ‘threatening to blow herself up while screaming Allahu Akbar’ at Paris metro station

Police have shot an unarmed woman wearing an Islamic veil who was ‘threatening to blow herself up while screaming Allahu Akbar’ at a metro station in Paris.

The victim, who has not been named, was hit today by at least one bullet at the height of the rush hour at the Bibliothèque François-Miterrand Metro station in Paris.

After passengers on a suburban train alerted police, agents managed to ‘isolate’ the woman at the station on the capital’s south bank, leading to a stand-off.

‘According to police, she made threats and advocated terrorism,’ said an investigating source. She was left in a critical condition.

Armed officers arrived at the station soon after 8.30am, and the woman – who was dressed in an Islamic veil – ‘threated to blow herself up,’ said the source.

She is also said to have shouted ‘Allahu akbar’ – Arabic for ‘God is the Greatest’.

‘Fearing for their safety, the police opened fire around 9:20 a.m. She was then injured in the stomach and evacuated immediately,’ said the source.

Witnesses to the incident said the woman was completely veiled.

Police have launched two investigations, prosecutors said. 

One will probe the woman’s actions, while another is to elucidate whether the police’s use of a firearm was justified.

France has been under ‘attack alert’ since October 13, when a teacher in the northern city of Arras was stabbed to death by an Islamist former pupil.

This is a breaking news story. More to follow…