LA GRAND COMBE, France — A man suspected of killing a Muslim worshipper in a mosque in the south of France was still on the run Sunday, authorities said, in an attack described by Prime Minister Francois Bayrou as Islamophobic.
Both men were alone in the mosque in the former mining town of La Grand Combe on Friday when the victim was fatally stabbed. The assailant recorded the attack on his phone, and security camera footage showed him shouting insults at ''Allah,'' which means God in Arabic, local media said.
Local prosecutor Abdelkrim Grini said Sunday that investigators are taking into account ''the possibility that this was an Islamophobic act. It's the one we're working on first, but it's not the only one,'' he said.
''Racism and hatred based on religion will never have a place in France,'' French President Emmanuel Macron said. ''Religious freedom is inviolable.''
Grini said images of the stabbing he watched as part of the investigation were ''horrifying'' and that police forces were working non-stop to try and arrest the suspect, with 70 investigators deployed.
''We're being particularly vigilant to make sure he doesn't claim any more victims,'' Grini said. He added that the suspect is a man born in France in 2004, who lived in the area and did not have a criminal record.
The Grand Mosque of Paris condemned the attack in a statement and said the victim, a young man identified only as Aboubakar in French media, had just finished cleaning the mosque when he was killed.
It called on authorities to quickly shed light on the reasons behind the attack, asking judicial authorities to say whether it is being treated as a ''terrorist'' act and to note its ''scale and seriousness ... for the safety of all."
