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Leaders from around the world have offered condolences and expressed solidarity with the people of France after the nation suffered a second alleged Islamist extremist attack on its soil in fifteen days.
President Emmanuel Macron said France was “under attack” in the wake of the killings inside the Notre-Dame basilica in the coastal city of Nice on Thursday, which left three worshipers dead, but vowed that the French people “will not give in to no terror. ” “In the fight against intolerance.
As the government raised the terror alert level to the highest “emergency” level across the country and soldiers were deployed to guard schools and churches in France, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he was shocked to learn of the “barbaric attack.”
“Our thoughts are with the victims and their families, and the UK stands firm with France against terrorism and intolerance.”
Pope Francis said he regretted the attack “that sowed death in a place of prayer and comfort.”
“I pray for the victims, for their families and for the beloved French people, so that they can respond to evil with good.”
The american president Donald Trump said: “The United States supports our oldest ally in this fight.” Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison also spoke in support of France.
The condemnation also came from Middle Eastern, Arab and Islamic leaders, who drew a clear distinction between their religion and the violent acts that purported to defend it. Turkey, which is embroiled in a dispute with France over the publication of cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad that have triggered a wave of attacks against the French people, was among the first to respond to the attack.
“We strongly condemn the attack committed today inside the church of Notre-Dame in Nice,” said a statement from the Turkish Foreign Ministry.
Egypt’s Foreign Ministry said it “stands as a government and people with … France in the fight against this hateful incident.” Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said that “peace cannot be achieved with nasty provocation.”
Thursday’s alleged attacker, a 21-year-old Tunisian named Brahim Aouissaoui, who entered Europe through Italy and traveled to Paris in early October, was shot by police and arrested inside the church.
Aouissaoui reportedly entered the basilica just before 8:30 a.m. Thursday with three knives and a copy of the Koran in a bag. The attack lasted 28 minutes and left two dead and a third mortally wounded.
The oldest victim was a 60-year-old woman who had been in the basilica praying since shortly after its inauguration that morning.
France’s counter-terrorism prosecutor Jean-François Ricard said her throat was slit “to the point of being nearly beheaded.”
Vincent LoquésThe 55-year-old also had his throat slit. His body was found inside the church.
Loqués was a devout Catholic and had been a sacristan in the basilica where he prepared the sacraments and the altar for mass for 10 years. Its function was also to welcome visitors and faithful to the basilica when it opened each morning.
The third victim was a 44-year-old woman and mother of three named in the Brazilian media as Simone Barreto Silva, who was stabbed several times inside the basilica.
Severely injured, she managed to flee the church before collapsing in a nearby bar. She told those who treated her: “Tell my children that I love them” before dying on the scene.
Police described the scene as a “vision of horror.”
Officers who were the first to arrive on the scene shot the killer multiple times after he reportedly refused to drop the knife, wounding him in the shoulder. At 9:10 am, the attacker had been “neutralized”. French officials praised the swift police action to prevent further bloodshed.
The National Antiterrorist Prosecutor’s Office has opened an investigation into “murders linked to a terrorist organization.”
Aouissaoui reportedly entered France from Italy. Investigators have established that it was registered in Lampedusa, Italy, on September 20 and that it had been in the Italian port of Bari on the Adriatic on October 9.
He did not carry any identity document except a document from the Italian Red Cross.
Ricard said the man was captured by CCTV cameras at Nice station at 6.47 am “He changed his jacket and shoes. Then he walked 400 meters to the Notre-Dame basilica. He entered at 8:29 in the morning, ”said the prosecutor.
After the faithful fleeing the church raised the alarm, four municipal police officers entered the church at 8:57 am.
The attacker advanced towards the officers “in a threatening manner, shouting Allahu Akbar, forcing them to first use an electric pulse pistol and then fire their service weapon several times,” the prosecutor said. Fourteen shell casings were found on the ground.
Thursday’s attack came 13 days after an 18-year-old man beheaded Samuel Paty, 47, a history teacher, outside his high school northeast of Paris. The teacher had shown the students cartoons, including one of the Prophet Muhammad published in the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo, during a discussion on freedom of expression.
Macron vowed after Paty’s murder to crack down on Islamist extremism, including closing mosques and other organizations accused of fomenting radicalism and violence.
His comments sparked angry protests across the Muslim world and called for a boycott of French products.
Having flown to Nice after the attacks and visiting the basilica, Macron was gloomy but defiant in his response on Thursday.
“It is France that is under attack,” the president said. “Three of our compatriots died today in the Nice Basilica and at the same time, a French consular site was attacked in Saudi Arabia.
“I want to express, first of all, the nation’s support for Catholics in France and elsewhere… We stand by their side so that religion can be freely exercised in our country. People can believe or not believe, all religions can be practiced, but today the nation is on the side of our fellow Catholics.
“My second message is to… the people of Nice who have already suffered as a result of the Islamist terrorist madness. This is the third time that terrorism has hit your city and it has the support and solidarity of the nation.
“If they have attacked us again, it is because of our values, our taste for freedom; the freedom to believe freely and not give in to terror. We will not give up on anything. Today we have increased our security to face the terrorist threat ”.
Macron said the French army was mobilizing to protect all places of worship, particularly Catholic churches, for the religious holiday of All Saints’ Day on Sunday. The number of soldiers on the streets will rise from 3,000 to 7,000 and troops will be deployed outside the schools to return to classes on Monday.
France’s security alert has been raised to its highest level, warning of an imminent attack or immediately following an attack. The high alert allows authorities to increase controls, deploy more police and conduct more systematic searches at train stations and airports.
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