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meFrance shocked by new knife attack: A suspected Islamist killed three people with a knife in Nice’s largest church on Thursday, police said. At least one victim had his throat slit. Mayor Christian Estrosi said that the arrested alleged perpetrator had shouted “Allahu Akbar” (“God is great”) several times.
The French antiterrorist prosecutor withdrew the investigation. France declared the highest level of terrorism alert. It is applied throughout the country, as announced by Prime Minister Jean Castex in Paris.
“All the citizens of Nice are shocked and dismayed,” said Mayor Estrosi. According to his account, “everything points to a terrorist attack.” The anti-terrorism prosecution is investigating “murder and attempted murder in connection with a terrorist act.”
A woman was beheaded, French media report
According to police sources, three people were killed in the attack on the Notre-Dame basilica three days before All Saints’ Day. A woman and a man died in the church in the center of town. A third victim was initially able to flee to a bar, but later succumbed to his injuries. Police said at least one victim had his throat slit. According to some French media reports, the murdered woman was beheaded.
This is also indicated by the statements of Mayor Estrosi: He said that the perpetrator proceeded in a similar way to the murder of history professor Samuel Paty about two weeks ago. The professor was beheaded by a suspected Islamist near Paris after showing Muhammad cartoons in class. Estrosi stressed that France had to declare war on “Islamofascism.”
The knife attack happened around 9 a.m. At this time, numerous people were shopping in central Nice, as a new nationwide crown lockdown was supposed to take effect in France at midnight.
“They all fled, there were shots,” said a waiter who works in a bar near the cathedral. “There will be deaths,” warned a woman. The injured perpetrator was taken to hospital, according to police.
There has also been an alleged Islamist attack on bystanders near the southern French city of Avignon. A man threatened several people with a weapon in the town of Montfavet, police said and confirmed the corresponding media reports. The police shot the man. Europe 1 radio station reported that the attacker had shouted “Allahu akbar”. No further details were initially provided.
Pope Francis prays for the victims
The Catholic Church in France was shocked by the “unspeakable act” in Nice. Christians must not “become symbolic sacrifices,” demanded the Episcopal Conference. Pope Francis prayed for the victims, their families and for an end to the violence, a Vatican spokesman said.
“In a place of peace and prayer, innocent people have been cruelly wounded and killed from behind,” the president of the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD), Heinrich Bedford-Strohm, said on Facebook. The president of the German Catholic Bishops’ Conference, Georg Bätzing, said he was horrified: “The believers, gathered to pray in a church, were victims of an incredible act of violence.”
Merkel and Rutte show solidarity
Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) was “deeply shocked by the cruel murders in a church” in Nice. “My thoughts are with the families of those killed and wounded,” Merkel said, according to her spokeswoman Steffen Seibert in Berlin. “The French nation stood in solidarity with Germany in these difficult hours,” added the chancellor.
Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte also assured France of his support. “We say to our French friends: you are not alone in the fight against extremism. The Netherlands is by your side, ”said the Prime Minister on Twitter. For the second time in a short time, France was frightened “by a cruel act of terror,” Rutte explained.
Turkey’s Foreign Ministry has also strongly condemned the knife attack, regardless of Franco-Turkish tensions. There is nothing to justify violence and the killing of people, said the Turkish Foreign Ministry. The people who carried out such brutal attacks on such a sacred place would have no religious, humanitarian or moral values. One stands in solidarity with the people of France against terror and violence, he said.
Macron visits the crime scene that afternoon.
French President Emmanuel Macron traveled to Nice in the afternoon after a meeting of the Paris crisis team to get an idea of the situation. He will be accompanied by the Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin, the Minister of Justice, Éric Dupond-Moretti, and the anti-terrorist prosecutor Jean-François Ricard, said Thursday from the Elysee circles. Macron wanted to speak with the security forces and the mayor of Nice, Christian Estrosi, at the scene.
There have been threats and calls for a boycott of France in several Muslim countries in recent days. The protests were sparked by Macron’s comments at the funeral for the murdered teacher. The head of state announced that he would stick to the Muhammad cartoons in the name of freedom of expression.
The alleged attack raises terrible memories of three acts in the French: in addition to the murder of the history professor, this is the bloody attack in Nice in 2016, in which an Islamist pounced on a crowd in a truck on the French national holiday, killing 86 people and injuring hundreds. .
Less than two weeks later, two men assassinated Catholic priest Jacques Hamel during service in the northern French city of Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray. The perpetrators later shot by the police claimed responsibility for the jihadist militia of the Islamic State (IS).
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