- NEW: Prosecutor: The suspect, a convert to Islam, prayed before the attack
- NEW: He has a record of petty crimes but was not known to security services, Molins says
- The stabbed soldier was hospitalized Saturday with wounds to the neck
- The soldier was on security patrol in La Defense, a business district of Paris
(CNN) -- French police arrested a man Wednesday in connection with the weekend stabbing of a soldier in a business district of Paris, according to the Ministry of Interior.
The suspect, who is being named only as "Alexandre," will turn 22 on Thursday, Paris prosecutor Francois Molins said in a news conference broadcast by CNN affiliate BFMTV.
He converted to Islam when was about 18 years old, the prosecutor said.
The attack is believed to be ideologically motivated because the suspect prayed 10 minutes before the attack in the capital's La Defense neighborhood, Molins said.
The serviceman, age 23, suffered wounds to the neck when the assailant attacked him from behind with a knife or box cutter.
The attacker stabbed several times and with determination, Molins said.
The suspect was identified thanks to security camera footage and traces of DNA found on a juice bottle he left along with a sweater in a bag near the scene, the prosecutor said.
He had a prior record of petty crimes committed when he was under 18 and is known to have been rebellious in his youth, but was not known to French security services, he said.
Alexandre was arrested at the home of a friend close to Les Yvelines, near Paris, where he was staying, Molins said. Authorities do not believe the friend is connected to the attack, he added.
The suspect can be held in police custody for 96 hours without charges being filed. Molins praised the work of French investigators in identifying him in only four days.
The soldier was hospitalized with non-life-threatening wounds, the Ministry of Defense said in a prepared statement.
"The aim was to kill the soldier because he was a soldier," Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian told the CNN affiliate on Saturday. The attacker wanted "to kill a soldier who is in charge of French security," he said.
The attacker was wearing a robe at the time of the assault, a police spokesman said.
The soldier was on patrol as part of a heightened security plan initiated in certain areas following France's intervention in Mali this year, French President Francois Hollande said.
The attack came days after a British soldier was hit by a car and hacked to death in southeast London.
Moments later, one of his alleged attackers was filmed saying the soldier was killed "because Muslims are dying daily" and "we must fight them as they fight us," an apparent reference to British and allied forces' roles in conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.
CNN's Stephanie Halasz and Saskya Vandoorne contributed to this report.
29 May, 2013
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