PARIS // French prime minister Manuel Valls defended his country's security forces on Wednesday following the first deadly militant attack in France since the Paris massacres last November.
President Francois Hollande joined a minute of silence at the interior ministry for the two victims of Monday's assault, which was carried out by a convicted extremist who had pledged allegiance to ISIL.
The minute of silence was also observed at police stations nationwide, with flags at the interior ministry to remain at half-mast for three days.
Mr Valls rejected criticism that the authorities could have thwarted the assault, in which the attacker killed a police officer and his partner at their home before streaming his claim for the murders live on Facebook.
"I will not let anyone say there was any negligence or lack of judgement" by the security forces, he said.
He added that a lone attack was hard to prevent and repeated a warning that terrorism was an inevitable threat.
"We will experience further attacks in the future because we are facing a terrorist organisation which is on the retreat in Syria and Iraq and which is projecting itself in our countries in various forms ... in order to sow fear and division," Mr Valls said.
"More innocent people will lose their lives. It's very hard to say this ... but unfortunately it is the truth."
France, which is hosting the Euro 2016 football tournament, is on maximum alert following the November 13 attacks in Paris which killed 130 people.
In Monday's assault, 25-year-old Larossi Abballa stabbed 42-year-old police commander Jean-Baptiste Salvaing outside his home in the Paris suburb of Magnanville.
Entering the home, he took Salvaing's 36-year-old partner Jessica Schneider and the couple's three-year-old son hostage, before slitting her throat.
Abballa, who had previously been convicted of terrorism activities, was later killed in a police raid on the house, where officers found the little boy traumatised but unhurt.
Just before the raid, Abballa streamed a live video on Facebook of himself inside the house with the toddler, urging "other surprises" and pledging to "turn the Euro into a graveyard".
Adding to the concerns, Belgium's La Derniere Heure tabloid warned on Wednesday of an "imminent" threat of more bloodshed by militants who had left Syria for France and Belgium.
"Fighters travelling without passports left Syria about a week-and-a-half ago in order to reach Europe by boat via Turkey and Greece," the newspaper said, quoting a memo sent to Belgian police and security services.
The fighters were travelling armed and planning to carry out attacks in groups of two. The memo did not give the total number of suspected attackers, however.
Belgium's national crisis centre did not deny the report, but said the information needed to be looked at further.
The information reported by the media "is non-contextualised and, as such, has not made a direct impact on the current level of threat" in Belgium, it said.
Belgium's terror alert is currently at the second-highest level of three, which means a threat is possible and likely.
The country is still reeling from ISIL suicide bombings that struck Brussels' airport and metro system on March 22. The attacks killed 32 people and wounded hundreds more.
* Agence France-Presse
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