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France’s national counterterrorism prosecutors said Thursday they opened a murder investigation after a man killed three people, including one whose throat was slit, in a basilica in central Nice and injured several more.
The mayor of the city, Christian Estrosi, told reporters at the scene that the assailant, detained shortly after by the police, “kept repeating ‘Allahu Akbar’ (God is greater) even while on medication.”
He added that President Emmanuel Macron would arrive in Nice shortly.
“The situation is now under control,” said police spokeswoman Florence Gavello.
The mayor of Nice, Christian Estrosi, said on Twitter: “I can confirm that everything allows us to think that it was a terrorist attack on the Basilica of Notre-Dame”, in the center of Nice.
France has been on high alert for terrorist attacks since the January 15 massacre in the satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo, and the trial of suspected accomplices to that attack is ongoing in Paris.
A wave of jihadist attacks on French soil, often by so-called “lone wolf” raiders, has killed more than 250 people since 2015.
The assault prompted lawmakers in parliament to observe a minute of silence, before Prime Minister Jean Castex and other ministers abruptly left for an emergency meeting with President Emmanuel Macron.
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