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In the early hours of Thursday, three people were killed and several others injured in what is being investigated as a terrorist attack in France. This is confirmed by both the local police and the French authorities.
The attack took place at the Notre-Dame church in the center of the popular resort town of Nice, where a man attacked with a knife.
– It is quite clear that France is under attack, President Emmanuel Macron later said, emphasizing that the country will not deviate from its values as a result of the attack.
The president describes the incident as “an Islamist terrorist attack.” He offers his condolences to the Catholics of the country, urging all the inhabitants of the country to remain united and not “give in to the spirit of division.”
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My neck is cut off
Christian Estrosi, the mayor of Nice, confirms that three people have died. It is said that one of them, probably a 70-year-old woman, had her neck cut off.
Estrosi reports that two of the victims lost their lives inside the church. The third victim fled and sought refuge in a nearby restaurant, but later died from his injuries, Nice-Matin writes. On Thursday night, one of the victims, Vincent Loquès, was confirmed to be a worker at the Notre-Dame church.
More blood will flow
The author was shot by the police and taken to hospital for treatment. During the arrest, he is said to have “incessantly” shouted “Allahu Akbar”.
The alleged perpetrator is a 21-year-old from Tunisia. Sources from the AFP news agency, which will be close to the investigation, report that the man arrived in France a few weeks ago.
More arrests: wanted to copy Nice attacks
A few hours later, a man was arrested near a church in Sartrouville, an area in the north of the country, after trying to copy the attack in Nice, writes the leading French newspaper Le Parisien. According to newspaper information, the man is said to have entrusted his own father with what he wanted to do. Then the father alerted the police.
The man was arrested Thursday afternoon, not far from the church, and was probably in possession of a knife.
French police also arrested an armed man in his 20s with a knife in Lyon. The man was detained as he was about to board a tram, according to sources in the AFP investigation.
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According to the French embassy in the Saudi city of Jeddah, a security guard was also injured in a knife attack on Thursday morning.
Raise the level of preparedness
In the wake of the attack, which the police are investigating as terrorism, French Prime Minister Jean Castex decided to raise the level of security to the highest level throughout the country, which carries the risk of murder.
– We will go from 3,000 to 7,000 soldiers as part of Operation Sentinel, affirms the president and emphasizes that security is increased especially in schools and churches.
Demand action against Islamist terrorism
However, today’s attack is not the first Islamist terrorist attack to shake France.
In 2016, Nice was the target of a terrorist attack that killed 86 people and injured 458 when an Islamist crashed into a crowd on the city’s waterfront with a truck.
Police: A woman’s neck was cut in an attack on a church
For almost two weeks, French high school teacher Samuel Paty (47) was beheaded on the outskirts of Paris after showing cartoons of Muhammad in connection with his teaching of freedom of expression. Following the attack, French police raided the homes of several Islamist militants. Macron confirmed that the authorities were considering forcibly dissolving 50 Muslim organizations in the wake of the killing and were preparing to deport more than 200 immigrants with extreme religious beliefs.
It provoked great reactions among Muslims around the world. On Thursday, the country was again hit by an Islamist attack.
Estrosi is now demanding that action be taken against Islamist terrorism.
– It is the Islamist barbarism that has taken place again here in Nice. We can no longer settle for peace laws in the face of Islamist fascism, he says.
