[ad_1]
France is once again shaken by an alleged terrorist attack.
At a press conference on Thursday evening, anti-terror prosecutor Jean-François Ricard, who is leading the investigation, said the alleged perpetrator was carrying a paper document from the Italian Red Cross, stating that he is a Tunisian citizen born in 1999, says Le Figaro.
Hours earlier, police sources claimed that the 21-year-old had traveled by boat from Tunis to the Italian island of Lampedusa in September. He was quarantined due to the pandemic before being released and told to leave Italy, according to the BBC and Reuters.
The prosecutor confirms that the man passed through Lampedusa before arriving in France in early October, writes France 24.
Thursday early morning The man arrived in Nice by train, where he was caught on surveillance cameras at the train station. He was seen entering the station at 6:47 a.m. and flipping his jacket inside out while changing his shoes, writes Reuters.
After a while he headed towards the Notre-Dame church, about 400 meters away.
Just before 08:30, he entered the church and stabbed a 55-year-old church caretaker in the neck, while a 60-year-old woman had her neck partially cut off. A 44-year-old woman was badly stabbed, but fled the church to a nearby restaurant and raised the alarm. He later died from his injuries.
Someone ran to a nearby bakery and asked staff to call the police.
– I thought it was a joke, I did not think it was true, says a person from the staff of the French television channel BFMTV.
When the person insisted, he walked a short distance to a street corner next to the church, where authorities had installed an emergency phone last year to contact the police. In this way, the police first realized what was happening.
According to the bakery clerk the police arrived at the scene in half a minute.
At 8:57 a.m., four policemen entered the church and confronted the man.
– He walked threateningly towards them and shouted “Allahu Akbar” (God is the greatest, editor’s note). The police then tried to neutralize him with a stun gun before opening fire, says the prosecutor according to Nice Matin.
The man is still being treated in hospital with life-threatening injuries. He was shot twice, but 14 sleeves were found at the scene.
He was carrying a Koran, two phones, and a bag with two knives that were not used in the attack. The murder weapon, a 12-inch long knife, was found nearby.
According to the prosecutor, the man is not known to the intelligence service or the police before, writes Le Monde.
Tunisia condemns the attack and has launched an investigation, following information that the suspect is a Tunisian citizen.
The caretaker who was the victim of the perpetrator had two children, a Catholic priest in Nice told Reuters.
– He handled his job as a church caretaker very well. He was a very kind person, says the priest.
Read more:
France raises the level of terror after knife attack in Nice
“I’m really scared, all the memories of the 2016 terror attack will come back”
