A 35-year-old Tunisian Muslim migrant, Abdelkader Dibi, went on a knife-and-club rampage in Marseille, France, stabbing at least five people before being shot dead by undercover police.
Armed with two knives and a club, Dibi struck first inside the hotel where he had just been evicted for unpaid rent. He stabbed his former roommate multiple times, then attacked the hotel manager and his son, leaving both with stab wounds in their backs.
He then stormed into a nearby snack bar, attempting to stab staff and customers, before heading toward Cours Belsunce, where he bludgeoned victims in the face with his club. In total, five people were wounded — one is in critical condition, French authorities confirmed.
Witnesses said he repeatedly shouted the Islamic war cry “Allah Akbar” during the spree. Video of the attack also shows Dibi raising his index finger in the ISIS salute, a gesture that has become a widely recognized sign of allegiance to jihad groups. As Robert Spencer has explained, while Muslims traditionally use the raised finger as a symbol of tawhid (monotheism), in recent years it has become the “ubiquitous hand signal” of the Islamic State, synonymous with loyalty to jihad ideology.
Moments later, plainclothes police confronted Dibi, ordering him to drop his weapons. He lunged forward, prompting officers to fire four shots. He collapsed, spitting blood, and later died at the scene.
Dibi was legally in France and already known to the police for violence and psychiatric problems. He had also faced legal proceedings for antiSemitic abuse. Despite the cries of “Allah Akbar” and the ISIS hand signal, France’s anti-terror prosecutor declined to take over the case, instead framing the attack as the act of an unstable man rather than an act of jihad terrorism.
Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau praised the police for acting decisively: “If they hadn’t opened fire, there would have been more victims.”
The bloody jihad attack unfolded just steps from Marseille’s Old Port, once again underscoring the danger posed by migrants with histories of crime and instability — and the unwillingness of French authorities to call jihad by its name.
