French president in Nice after deadly knife attack leaves 3 people dead
A knife-wielding assailant has decapitated a woman and killed two other civilians in a “suspected terror attack” in France’s southern port city of Nice, police and officials say, days after a French teacher was beheaded in a similar attack in Paris.
The deadly incident occurred at the Basilica of Notre-Dame at 9 a.m. local time on Thursday, said Nice’s mayor, Christian Estrosi, adding that the attack was similar to the beheading earlier this month near Paris of teacher Samuel Paty.
The history teacher, a French national, had used offensive cartoons of Prophet Mohammad (Peace be upon Him) in a civics class.
“The suspected knife attacker was shot by police while being detained. He is on his way to hospital, he is alive,” Estrosi told reporters, adding that one of the people killed at the church was believed to be the head of the church.
Police said in a statement that several other people were also wounded in the attack, which is being investigated.
A few hours after the attack police shot dead a man, who had threatened passersby with a handgun in Montfavet, near the southern French city of Avignon.
President Emmanuel Macron, who arrived in Nice later in the day, denounced the “terrorist attack" at the Notre-Dame basilica after visiting the scene in the southern city.
Following the deadly attack in Nice, Prime Minister Jean Castex raised France’s security alert to its highest, “attack emergency” level, vowing that the government’s response would be firm and implacable. He also described the attack “as cowardly as it is barbaric.”
French lawmakers at the parliament also observed a minute’s silence in solidarity with the victims in Nice.
Separately, Reuters quoted an unnamed representative of the French Council for the Muslim Faith as strongly denouncing the attack in Nice.
“As a sign of mourning and solidarity with the victims and their loved ones, I call on all Muslims in France to cancel all the celebrations of the holiday of Mawlid,” the representative said.
It is not yet clear whether Thursday’s attack has been connected to the insulting cartoons.
Russia, for its part, condemned on Thursday the recent beheadings in France, saying it was unacceptable to kill people, but also wrong to insult the feelings of religious believers.
Britain, the Netherlands, the Vatican, and the European Commission, for their parts, also condemned the killing in Nice.
Turkey also strongly slammed the “savage” attack in Nice, offering its “solidarity”.
Ankara and Paris are in the midst of a diplomatic spat after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said his French counterpart needed mental health treatment over his remarks about Islam.
Macron had said about his fighting against “Islamist separatism,” which according to him threatens to take control in some Muslim communities across France. He said earlier this month that Paty was decapitated because “Islamists” wanted “our future.”
"We strongly condemn the attack committed today inside the Notre-Dame church in Nice,” a Turkey’s foreign ministry statement said while offering condolences to the victims' relatives.
Erdogan has already called on Turks to boycott all French products. Reports say boycotts of French goods are already underway in supermarkets in Qatar and Kuwait, with further calls to reject products of the European country in Jordan and other Muslim countries.
