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The man who allegedly killed three worshipers in an attack on a church in Nice has been identified, and a second victim has been identified.
Police sources said Thursday’s terrorism suspect, 21-year-old Tunisian Brahim Aouissaoui, arrived in Europe by boat last month and was unknown to security services.
A judicial source told the Reuters news agency on Friday that a 47-year-old man was detained last night on suspicion of having been in contact with Aouissaoui, confirming an earlier report on BFM TV.
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It comes as France’s interior minister warned that more attacks are likely on French soil as the country is engaged in a “war against Islamist ideology,” though the reason because the Nice attack is not yet known.
“We are in a war against an enemy who is both inside and out,” Gerald Darmanin told RTL radio.
“We need to understand that there have been and will be other events like these terrible attacks.”
Good attack suspect Brahim Aouissaoui is in critical condition in hospital
Aouissaoui’s family has spoken of their shock at his arrest for the atrocity and said he had never shown any signs of extremism.
He spoke to his mother and siblings in a video call shortly after arriving in Nice. yesterday, a few hours before the attack.
They said they were surprised to learn that he was in France because he did not know anyone there.
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After arriving on the Mediterranean island of Lampedusa on September 20, Aouissaoui entered France, traveling through the southern Italian city of Bari on October 9.
He arrived in Nice by train yesterday morning and changed clothes at the station, before walking 400 meters to the Notre Dame church, where a 60-year-old woman and a 55-year-old church worker, Vincent Loques, father of two, they were killed.
She and Mr. Loques died at the scene, while a 44-year-old Brazilian woman walked out of the church to a nearby cafe and raised the alarm before dying from her injuries.
Simone Barreto Silva had lived in France for 30 years and had three children, according to Brazilian media reports, who said that although she was a trained cook, she was a care worker who cared for the elderly.
The mayor of his hometown Salvador, capital of the Brazilian state of Bahia, paid tribute to him in a tweet and said he was born in Lobato, a suburb of the city.
Simone Barreto Silva managed to leave the church and raise the alarm before dying
France’s chief counterterrorism prosecutor Jean-Francois Ricard later said the attack on the church, the suspect approached the police in a “threatening manner”, shouting “Allahu Akbar”. [God is greatest] before being shot and seriously injured by officers, who fired at least 14 bullets at him.
He remains in critical condition in the hospital.
The suspect had with him an Italian Red Cross identity card, a Koran and two phones, while a bag containing two unused knives was also found.
The blade used in the attack was 30 cm long, with a 17 cm edge.
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Witnesses described hearing “screams” after the attack. and the police told him to flee quickly at the scene.
President Emmanuel Macron, who visited Nice on Thursday afternoon, said his country was “under attack” and expressed “France’s support for the Catholic community.”
He added that the number of soldiers deployed to protect schools and religious sites would increase from about 3,000 at this time to 7,000.
It occurs when the country remains on high alert for terrorist attacks following the beheading earlier this month of a French high school teacher Samuel Paty in Paris.
