Terror attack in Nice killed three
The southern French city of Nice was in mourning on Thursday as three people were stabbed to death in a suspected jihadist attack at a church. The police said the attacker had repeatedly shouted the phrase “Allahu Akbar”, or God is greatest, even after he had been detained by police. The suspect, who was hospitalized in critical condition, has been identified by French police as Brahim Aouissaoui. He was unknown to French intelligence services and not in the national fingerprint file, according to Ricard. Aouissaoui is a Tunisian national, according to the interior ministry of Italy. A source briefed on the investigation shared that Aouissaoui entered Europe in September through the southern Italian island of Lampedusa.
The stabbings took place in the Mediterranean city’s Notre-Dame Basilica on Thursday, at a time of heightened tensions in the country over Islam, secularism and freedom of speech. Leaders from around the world have expressed their solidarity and offered condolences to the people of France after the nation suffered a second suspected Islamist extremist attack on its soil in a fortnight. A makeshift memorial has been set up outside the Notre-Dame basilica, where people have placed flowers and lit candles for the victims.
One of the victims, a 60-year-old woman, was found at the entrance of the church with a deep cut to her throat, French anti-terror prosecutor Jean-François Ricard, said in a press conference.
A 55-year-old man, the church’s sacristan, also died from a fatal wound to the throat. The third casualty, a 44-year-old woman, was stabbed several times before she fled the church. She died at a nearby restaurant.
French President Emmanuel Macron said Thursday’s stabbings were an “Islamist terrorist attack”. 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 worshippers dead, but he vowed the French people would “not give in to any terror” in fighting intolerance.
As the government raised the terror alert level to the maximum “emergency” level nationwide, and soldiers were deployed to guard schools and churches in France, UK prime minister Boris Johnson said he was appalled to hear of the “barbaric attack”.
“We strongly condemn the attack committed today inside the Notre-Dame church in Nice,” a Turkish foreign ministry statement said.
Egypt’s foreign ministry said it “stands as a government and people with … France in combatting this hateful incident”. Iran’s foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said: “peace cannot be achieved with ugly provocation”.
US President Donald Trump said: “America stands with our oldest ally in this fight.” Australian prime minister Scott Morrison also spoke out in support of France.
France’s Council of the Muslim Faith strongly denounced Thursday’s attack and called on French Muslims to cancel Thursday’s religious celebrations, which mark the birthday of the Prophet Mohammed.
“I strongly condemn the terrorist attack that took place near the Notre-Dame Basilica in Nice. As a sign of mourning and solidarity with the victims and their families, I call on the Muslims of France to cancel all the Mawlid festivities,” the council stated in a post on its Twitter account.
“It painfully reminds us how much the deadly ideology of Islamist terrorism remains alive and well, as well as its will to attack our liberties, our most essential liberties, freedom of expression, freedom of teaching, freedom of worship,” French National Anti-terror Prosecutor, Jean-François Ricard said.
By Karishma Gwalani
