Gard: Man Fatally Stabbed Inside Mosque, Suspect on the Run

A Muslim worshipper was fatally stabbed on the morning of Friday, April 25, inside the mosque of La Grand-Combe, located in the Gard department of southern France. The incident occurred around 8:30 a.m., while only two men were present in the place of worship for the first prayer of the day. According to the public prosecutor of Alès, Abdelkrim Grini, one of the men suddenly turned on the other, delivering dozens of stab wounds with extreme violence.

Brutal Attack, Motive Still Unknown

The victim’s body, whose identity has not yet been confirmed, was discovered around 11:30 a.m., when other worshippers arrived for Friday prayers. Initial forensic examinations suggest that the man received between 40 and 50 stab wounds. The suspect fled the scene immediately after the attack and remains at large. He has yet to be identified or apprehended.

A murder investigation has been opened by the Alès public prosecutor’s office and assigned to the Gard departmental gendarmerie, in coordination with the Nîmes criminal investigation division. The national anti-terrorism prosecutor’s office is also assessing the incident, though no official classification has been made at this stage.

In a message posted on X, Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau condemned the act as “barbaric violence” and expressed “support for the victim’s family” as well as “solidarity with the Muslim community affected in their place of worship on the day of the main weekly prayer.”