Three dead in Nice, France mass stabbing as ‘simultaneous’ attacks reported elsewhere

France is under siege as it was hit by two suspected terror attacks which left three dead – including a woman beheaded by a knifeman shouting “Allahu Akbar”.

Two separate assailants are understood to have launched attacks in Nice and Avignon in the south of the country just hours apart amid an ongoing row over controversial cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed.

 

A woman has reportedly been beheaded – one of three killed – in a bloody rampage which saw the knifeman storm the Basilica of Notre-Dame in Nice, according to media reports.

Police have identified the suspect in Nice as Brahim Aouissaoui, who was born in 1999.

French President Emmanuel Macron has visited the site of the attack.
 

 

Almost at the same time, a security guard at the French Consulate in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, was also stabbed and left with minor injuries. A man there has been arrested, with state television saying the suspect was armed with has been described as a sharp tool.

And then in Avignon, 250km from Nice, a man shouting “Allahu Akbar” while brandishing a knife was shot dead, according to police. Nobody else has been reported injured.

It is unclear if the attacks are related.
 

BREAKING - Knife stabbing attack at Notre-Dame church in Nice. One dead and several injured. pic.twitter.com/EOoQGL2yHG

— Disclose.tv ? (@disclosetv) October 29, 2020

 

France has raised its attack level to “urgent” and Prime Minister Jean Castex said the government’s response will be “relentless and immediate”.

Eric Ciotti, a Republican politician and member of the French National Assembly, tweeted: “Attack in Nice, attack in Avignon, attack on the French consulate in Saudi Arabia.

“It is not a coincidence, the Islamists want to annihilate us! We must destroy the Islamists!”

One of the female victims of the Nice attack was reportedly decapitated inside the church, according to French media, police sources and the city’s mayor who also confirmed the nature of the injuries.

The male victim who was stabbed to death is said to be the church’s 45-year-old sacristan, an officer charged with taking care of the church.

The third victim – a woman – reportedly managed to escape and took refuge in a nearby bar where she succumbed to her injuries, reports BFMTV. The National Anti-Terrorism Prosecutors Office confirmed it has launched an investigation.

Armed police then stormed Notre-Dame in Nice, shooting and wounding the suspected terrorist.
 

 

 

 

Nice mayor Christian Estrosi said: “The attacker kept shouting ‘Allahu Akbar’ even after he had been shot and as he was given medical care.

“Enough is enough. The suspected knife attacker was shot by police while being detained, he is on his way to hospital, he is alive.

“I must say that Nice, like France, but perhaps more than other places in the country today, is paying too heavy a price by being once again the victim of islamofascism.”

La #France ?? et Nice ont été frappées dans l’une de leurs basiliques les plus emblématiques, inspirée de Notre-Dame de #Paris. « NOTRE-DAME DE NICE ». pic.twitter.com/U0X0PZH4nh

— Christian Estrosi (@cestrosi) October 29, 2020

 

There have been heightened security fears in France amid the ongoing row over cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed published by Charlie Hebdo.

 

Mr Estrosi tweeted: “I confirm that everything suggests a terrorist attack in the Notre-Dame Basilica.”

French interior Minister Gerald Darmanin tweeted: “A police operation is in progress.

“Avoid the area and follow the instructions.”
 

 

 

 

He announced he has called a “crisis meeting” in response to the attack.

A local police spokesman said: “A man has been arrested at the scene after being shot by police.

France has provoked the ire of Iran and Turkey as it has taken a tough line in defending the cartoons of the prophet.

High school history teacher Samuel Paty, 47, was beheaded by 18-year-old Abdullah Anzorov on October 17 in Paris after using the cartoons to teach his students about the importance of free speech.
 

 

He was posthumously given the Legion d‘Honneur – France’s highest award – and French president Emmanuel Macron insisted the country would “not give up our cartoons”.

Prophet Mohammed cartoons have been displayed in France in solidarity with Paty to defend what many in the country see as its values of free speech and secularism.

Macron has said he would redouble efforts to stop conservative Islamic beliefs subverting French values – which has angered many Muslims.
 

 

France has launched a crackdown on what it perceives to be radical Islam, announcing it has searched more than 120 homes and closed down a mosque in Paris.

Mr Paty is now being seen as a champion of free speech by many in France after his brutal death.

The image he showed to students was the same one published by Charlie Hebdo that sparked the 2015 attack on the magazine’s offices when 12 people were killed.
 

 

Nine people – including members of the attacker’s family – have been arrested over Mr Paty’s death.

His killing came after another knife attack near the former offices of Charlie Hebdo just weeks prior – in which the suspect is believed to have tried to target the magazine.
 

 

Yesterday, Iranian president Hassan Rouhani warned the row over the cartoons could lead to “violence and bloodshed”.

He said: “It’s a surprise that this would come from those claiming culture and democracy, that they would somehow, even if unintentionally, encourage violence and bloodshed.”

Mr Rouhani added: “Westerners must understand the great Prophet of Islam is loved by all Muslims and freedom-lovers of the world.

“Insulting the Prophet is insulting all Muslims. Insulting the Prophet is insulting all prophets, human values, and amounts to undermining ethic.”

This story originally appeared on The Sun and is republished here with permission