Champs-Elysees attacker was 'a licensed gun-owner', had weapons stash at home

Investigators have found a stash of weapons at the home of a man killed while ramming a car loaded with guns and a gas canister into a police van on Paris' Champs-Elysees, a source close to the probe said on Tuesday.

Adam Djaziri, a 31-year-old who had been on a watchlist for radical Islamists, had at least nine weapons, including two pistols and a Kalashnikov-type assault rifle, the source said.

The revelation of the discovery came after Prime Minister Edouard Philippe expressed dismay that Djaziri was able to have a gun permit despite being on a jihadist watchlist.

"What I know at this stage is that the first weapons permit was given before this individual was flagged up," he said in an interview with BFM television and RMC radio.

He added that "nobody can be satisfied - and certainly not me" that Djaziri had still been able to possess dangerous weapons.

Djaziri was killed in the attack as his car loaded with a gas canister smashed into the van on the French capital's most famous avenue.

Djaziri's ex-wife, brother and sister-in-law were detained late on Monday after police questioned them at the family home in Plessis-Pate outside Paris. Djaziri's father was also taken into custody, a judicial source said.

Burn marks were found on Djaziri's body but it was not yet clear how he died, according to a source close to the investigation. There were no other casualties from the attempted attack, and no group claimed responsibility.

State of emergency

The attempted attack comes with France still under a state of emergency after a wave of militant assaults that have left more than 230 people dead since 2015.

Djaziri died just a short distance on the Champs-Elysees from the spot where a militant shot dead a police officer two months ago. 

Earlier this month, an Algerian man attacked a policeman with a hammer outside Notre Dame cathedral, another key tourist hotspot, while troops shot dead a man at the capital's Orly airport in March after he attacked a soldier on patrol.

Few details have emerged of the new anti-terrorism law due to be unveiled on Wednesday, but a draft leaked to the daily Le Monde has sparked concern among civil liberties campaigners who worry the emergency measures could become permanent.

The measures allow security forces to monitor suspects and carry out searches without warrants, place suspects under house arrest and ban public gatherings.

The current state of emergency is due to expire on 15 July, but the government is seeking to extend it until 1 November - presumably after the new anti-terrorism law takes effect.