Authorities in France have maintained that the Tunisian man who attacked a church and killed three people in a brutal attack in the city of Nice arrived only recently in the country. They further added that the suspect had an international Red Cross document which was issued to him when he arrived in Italy on a migrant boat in October.
However, the man was shot by the police officers who arrived at the scene and is currently in critical condition. Moreover, the French anti-terrorism police chief said that one of the three victims was “virtually beheaded.”
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French President Emmanuel Macron arrived in Nice and described this as a “terrorist attack.” In a bid to curb any further violent incidents, the authorities have also increased the number of military patrols to guard public places and schools. Furthermore, the anti-terrorism authorities said that their national security threat is at the highest level.
Meanwhile, the local media reported that a man in his 40s allegedly in contact with the attacker was arrested by the police. Thursday’s attack comes days after a French teacher, Samuel Paty, was killed after showing derogatory caricatures of Prophet Muhammad to his students.
It appeared only after the attacks that one of the witnesses managed to raise the security alarm bell set up by the city government. Responding to the alert, four policemen arrived at the scene and shot the suspect. Two victims died in the church, and one managed to get out but later scummed to serious injuries. However, the authorities have refrained from disclosing the woman’s identity, who was beheaded by the attacker.
The recent developments have heightened the tensions in France, especially Macron’s decision to defend the Prophet’s caricatures, and his government’s decision to clamp down on “radical Islam” has prompted international condemnations from Muslim nations, including Turkey’s Erdogan and Pakistan’s Imran Khan.
However, governments around the world have strongly condemned the brutal attack on a worship place. In a separate development on Thursday, a man stabbed a guard outside the French consulate in Jeddah, and another man who was threatening the passers-by with an assault weapon was shot dead by officers.
