Three people have died in a knife attack at a church in Nice, in what French President Emmanuel Macron said was an “Islamist terrorist attack”.
He said France would not surrender its core values after visiting the Notre-Dame basilica in the southern city. An extra 4,000 troops are being deployed to protect churches and schools.
In Nice, one elderly victim was “virtually beheaded”, officials said. Another woman and a man also died.
Anti-terror prosecutors have opened an investigation into the attack and France has raised its national security alert to its highest level.
Police sources named Brahim Aioussaoi as the suspect, a 21-year-old Tunisian who arrived by boat on the Italian island of Lampedusa in September. He was placed in coronavirus quarantine there before being released and told to leave Italy. He arrived in France earlier this month.
The Mayor of Nice, Christian Estrosi spoke of “Islamo-fascism” and said the suspect had “repeated endlessly ‘Allahu Akbar’ (God is greatest)”.
