(CNN) The knife-wielding attacker who went on a stabbing rampage in Paris, killing one person and wounding four more, was born in Russia's Chechnya region, a judicial source said.

The attacker was shot dead by police after stabbing five people in a popular tourist district near the Paris opera house Saturday night, when sidewalks and restaurants were filled with people.

During the attack, he yelled the Arabic phrase "Allahu Akbar," meaning "God is great," city prosecutor François Molins told reporters at the scene.

He was on a police anti-terror watch list of people suspected of having radicalized views and posing a potential security risk, though had no criminal record, the judicial source said.

The attacker's mother and father are in police custody for questioning. A friend of the attacker has also been detained for questioning, a judicial source told CNN on Sunday.

Forensic officers at the scene on Saturday night.

A police officer cordons off the area where the knife attack happened.