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Police detain fourth suspect after attack
| Reading time: 2 minutes
Police officers stand near the scene of the knife attack in the southern French coastal city of Nice.
Source: dpa / Eric Gaillard
A fourth possible accomplice was arrested in connection with the knife attack in Nice. A 47-year-old man had already been arrested on Thursday. Investigators want to know if the attacker had accomplices.
northFollowing the alleged Islamist-motivated attack in Nice, which left three people dead, the police arrested a fourth possible accomplice of the author. A 29-year-old Tunisian citizen was arrested on Saturday afternoon in the southern French city of Grasse, according to judicial circles. This means that four possible aides of the 21-year-old alleged Tunisian perpetrator are in police custody.
The man is suspected of being in contact with Brahim Issaoui, who is believed to have killed three people at the Notre-Dame basilica in Nice on Thursday morning. The attacker is said to have yelled “Allahu Akbar” (God is great) several times during the crime.
Issaoui was shot several times by the police when he was arrested and was seriously injured in hospital. He has not yet been questioned. According to the current state of the investigation, the young man only arrived in France one or two days before the crime, he had arrived in the country via Italy.
In France, the antiterrorist prosecutor is investigating the case. The Tunisian authorities also opened an investigation. Tunisian Prime Minister Hichem Mechichi has instructed the Ministry of the Interior and Justice to work with the French authorities.
In addition to the 29-year-old, police arrested three other men between the ages of 33 and 47 on suspicion of complicity.
Meanwhile, French Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin announced that he will send thousands of additional emergency services to the streets. Consequently, 3,500 reserve police officers are mobilized so that a total of 7,000 security forces are at the disposal of the local authorities. Schools and churches in particular should be better protected.
The mood against France is heated
Just two weeks ago, a history teacher was killed in Paris for showing cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad in class. French President Emmanuel Macron spoke out in favor of showing the cartoons in the context of freedom of expression.
Since then, the mood in Muslim countries against France has heated up. In countries like Pakistan and Bangladesh, thousands of people recently took to the streets in anti-French protests and burned photographs of Macron.
Another incident shook France on Saturday: in the city of Lyon, an Orthodox priest was attacked and wounded with a pistol. According to the police, the alleged perpetrator is on the run.
