Sayeed Muhammad Akkad only discovered that his son, Fouad, was one of the terrorists who killed many at the Bataclan theater on November 13. ‘If I had known that he was planning on being a part of this I would have killed him beforehand myself,’ he said.
French authorities on Wednesday exposed the identity of the third man who attacked the Bataclan during last month’s terror attacks in Paris. The November 13 attacks, which were perpetrated by members of the Islamic State group, caused the deaths of 130 people. The man whose identity was published is Fouad Muhammad Akkad, originally from the northern-French city of Strasbourg. He went to Syria in 2013, staying there for a year.
Fouad’s father, Sayeed Muhammad Akkan, said he would have murdered his son if he had known what his plans were. Akkad Sr. said in an interview that he had no idea his 23-year-old son was among the three armed attackers who shot many in the Paris theater on November 13, killing 90 people. “Of course I’m surprised,” he said.
The father told reporters that he knew his son had traveled to Syria in 2013 with a group of young people from the Strasbourg area, but did not know that he had returned to France.
“The last time I saw him was two years ago when he left. I don’t know what to say, I only found out about it this morning. I have to collect myself.” Akkad Sr. said.
French authorities have still not published the names of all eight terrorists who were involved in the attacks in Paris last month. Investigators managed to identify Akkan after his mother received a text message about her son’s death, informed the police, and gave them a DNA sample. The sample was then found to be connected to one of the terrorists’ bodies, which turned out to be her son.
As reported by Ynetnews