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BBC:
French officials said the perpetrator of the attack, which resulted in three deaths at a church in Nice, was a young Tunisian who arrived in France days ago.
They added that the suspect is 21 years old and that he arrived on the Italian island of Lampedusa last month, on a migrant boat, before arriving in France.
French President Emmanuel Macron described the incident as an “Islamic terrorist attack.”
Police shot the suspect, who was identified as Ibrahim Al-Owaisawi, who was carrying an Italian Red Cross document and was now in critical condition.
After a visit to Nice in southern France, Macron said: “If they attack us again, it is for the sake of our values: freedom, and for the sake of our land’s ability to believe in freedom and not submit to feelings of terror. “
And he added: “I say it again very clearly today: we will not give up anything.”
Macron said the number of soldiers to be deployed to protect public spaces, such as churches and schools, would increase from 3,000 to 7,000.
Nice Mayor Christian Astrozi described the attack as “terrorist”. He spoke of what he described as “Islamic fascism” and said the suspect “kept repeating that God is great.”
He added that one of the elderly victims, who had come to pray, “beheaded.”
The mayor compared the attack to the murder of teacher Samuel Patty, who was beheaded near his school on the outskirts of Paris earlier this month.
France raised the national security alert system to its highest levels.
There were two other attacks on Thursday morning, one in France and the other in Saudi Arabia.
A man was shot dead in Montvave, near Avignon, after he threatened the police with a pistol. A guard was attacked in front of the French consulate in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. A suspect was arrested and the guard was taken to hospital.
What do we know about the Nice attack? Who are the victims?
Three people were attacked inside the church on Thursday morning, before the first mass of the day.
Reports say that two of the dead were attacked inside the church, a 60-year-old woman and a 55-year-old man, who was found cut in the neck.
The man was a regular employee among those responsible for maintaining the church, and reports indicated that he was married with two children.
A 44-year-old woman managed to escape to a nearby cafe after being stabbed multiple times, but later died.
A witness who lives near the church, Chloe, told the BBC: “We heard a lot of people shouting in the street. We saw more and more police coming from the window, and we heard the sound of gunfire, a lot of gunfire.”
The Antiterrorist Prosecutor’s Office said that four policemen arrived at the scene at 08:57 local time (07:57 GMT), and the attacker was shot and detained shortly after.
Four years ago, Nice was the scene of another terrorist attack, when a Tunisian was driving a truck and rammed into crowds of people celebrating Bastille Day on July 14, killing 86 people.
How was the reaction?
Members of the National Assembly observed a minute of silence, while Prime Minister Jean Castex provided details of the measures to close the country due to Covid-19, which will take effect on Thursday night.
Castex announced raising the national security alert system to its highest levels, saying the Nice attack was “as cowardly as it is barbarous.”
The French Council of the Islamic Faith condemned the attack and expressed its solidarity with the victims and their families.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, in a tweet in both English and French, said the UK was “firmly” on the side of France.
“I am appalled to hear the news from Nice this morning about a barbaric attack on Notre Dame. Our sentiments go out to the victims and their families, and Britain strongly supports France against terrorism and intolerance.”
Turkey condemned the attack and described it as “brutal”.
Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said the killings “brought death to a place of love and comfort.”
What is the context of what happened?
Thursday’s attack echoes another attack earlier this month near a school northwest of Paris.
Samuel Patti, who was a professor at Conflans-Saint-Honorine, was beheaded days after he showed some of his students offensive cartoons for the Prophet Muhammad.
There was widespread controversy over Macron’s statements on Islam, and relations between Turkey and France witnessed tensions as a result.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was among those who called for a boycott of French products.
The situation also worsened after a cartoon of Erdoan appeared in the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo.
A chronology of recent attacks in France:
October 2020: French teacher Samuel Patty beheaded outside a school in a Paris suburb
September 2020: Two people were seriously injured in a stabbing in Paris near the former Charlie Hebdo offices, where Islamist militants launched a deadly attack in 2015.
July 2016: Two attackers kill Pastor Jacques Hamel and seriously injure another hostage, after storming a church in a suburb of Rouen, in northern France.
July 2016: A gunman drives a large truck amid a crowd celebrating Bastille Day in Nice, killing 86 people in an attack claimed by ISIS.
November 2015: Militants and suicide bombers launch several coordinated attacks on the Bataclan concert hall, the main stadium, restaurants and bars in Paris, killing 130 people and wounding hundreds.
January 2015: Two Islamist militants raid Charlie Hebdo’s offices, killing 12 people.
