Airport was 'targeted for attack'

Father disputes prosecutor's claim that suspect had been radicalized in prison

PARIS - French prosecutors said the man who was killed during an attempted attack on Orly airport near Paris on Saturday had vowed "to die for Allah".

Authorities said that the suspect, identified as Ziyed Ben Belgacem, a 39-year-old French national, tried to grab an assault rifle from a female soldier who was patrolling the airport before being shot dead, Paris prosecutor Francois Molins said.

The man and the soldier became involved in a struggle on the ground before two members of the patrol opened fire, killing the attacker.

Belgacem, known to the police for theft and drug offenses, had been on the watchlist of intelligence services for radicalization, and he showed "determination to go to the end", the prosecutor said.

The man's choice of targeting soldiers and evidence of "a radicalization process in jail," justified the opening of a terrorism probe, according to authorities.

No victims were reported at the airport, where 3,000 passengers were forced to evacuate and 178 flights were canceled and others diverted to Charles de Gaulle airport north of Paris.

However, in an interview on Sunday with French radio Europe 1, a man identified as the suspect's father said Belgacem wasn't a practicing Muslim and drank alcohol.

"My son was never a terrorist. He never attended prayer. He drank. But under the effects of alcohol and cannabis, this is where one ends up," said the father. Europe 1 did not give his name.

Molins' office said on Sunday that Belgacem's father was released from police custody overnight. His brother and a cousin were still being questioned.

Blood samples taken during Sunday's autopsy were to be screened for drugs and alcohol, the prosecutors' office said.

French President Francois Hollande on Saturday reiterated the country's determination to "fight terrorism, defend the security of our compatriots and to ensure the protection of the territory."

He called for high vigilance after the incident which he said had shown the need for the intensified security operation that was launched in the wake of a series of shootings and an explosion in Paris in November 2015 that left 130 people dead.

The attack in Orly airport came just days after a letter bomb exploded at the International Monetary Fund office in Paris, slightly injuring one person.

Despite emergency security measures imposed two years ago, the fresh assaults have put security issue in the spotlight during a presidential campaign with the far-right advocating for tougher security and anti-immigration policies.

"Our government is outdated, dazed, paralyzed, like a rabbit in the headlights of a car", said far-right candidate Marine Le Pen, far-right presidential election, on Saturday during a meeting in Metz, east France.

"The cowardice of the entire political class in face of Islamist fundamentalism ... that cowardice that produced the results that we know and that we see today in Orly."