[Asia Economy Reporter Bu Aeri] Amid the ongoing shock from the terrorist attack in Nice, France, an incident occurred in a Muslim-majority region of Russia where a Muslim teenager attacked the police.
According to RIA Novosti, in the early hours of the 30th (local time), a 16-year-old teenager attacked a local police station building in Kukmor, a city in the Republic of Tatarstan, central Russia.
The perpetrator threw two Molotov cocktails at the police station building around 3 a.m., a time when the area was sparsely populated.
When a police officer returning from patrol confirmed the attack and pursued the suspect with another officer, the perpetrator resisted by wielding a weapon.
It is reported that the perpetrator shouted the slogan "Allahu Akbar (God is great)" while attacking the police officer.
During the confrontation, one police officer was injured in the foot by the weapon wielded by the perpetrator.
In response, another police officer fired warning shots with a handgun, followed by aimed shots, resulting in the perpetrator being shot and dying at the scene.
Russian police stated that the perpetrator was a resident of Kukmor and had been registered as a person of interest due to extremist tendencies.
Interfax reported that this incident may have been influenced by a series of terrorist attacks in France following the controversy over satirical cartoons of the Islamic prophet Muhammad.
Russia is a Christian-majority country where most citizens believe in Orthodox Christianity, but Tatarstan is an autonomous republic with a population of 3.9 million, most of whom are Muslims.
Earlier in France, a local history teacher named Samuel Paty, who conducted a class discussing freedom of expression using satirical cartoons of Muhammad, was brutally murdered earlier this month by an Islamic extremist youth.
Following this, French President Emmanuel Macron defended Paty and made statements supporting secular values and the right to criticize religion, which provoked strong backlash from Islamic countries.
Amid this, on the morning of the previous day, a man in his 20s, a Muslim youth, carried out a knife attack at the Notre-Dame Cathedral in Nice, southern France, killing three people including worshippers and staff, shocking the world.
Iran, the Shiite Islamic powerhouse, also condemned the terrorist attack in Nice, France. Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif stated, "We strongly condemn the terrorist attack in Nice today."
He added, "The vicious cycle of harsh words, provocation, and violence must be replaced by reason and discernment," emphasizing, "We must recognize that extremism breeds more extremism and that peace cannot be achieved through dirty provocations."
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