Woman beheaded in France
Two others also killed by knife-wielding attacker
NICE: A knife-wielding attacker beheaded a woman and killed two other people in a suspected terrorist act at a church in the French city of Nice, while a gunman was shot dead by police in a separate incident.
Within hours of the Nice attack yesterday, police killed a man who had threatened passersby with a handgun in Montfavet, near the southern French city of Avignon.
In Saudi Arabia yesterday, state television reported that a Saudi man had been arrested in the city of Jeddah after attacking and injuring a guard at the French consulate.
The French Embassy said the guard was taken to hospital and his life was not in danger.
Nice’s mayor Christian Estrosi, who described the attack in his city as terrorism, said on Twitter that it had happened in or near Notre Dame church and was similar to the beheading of French teacher Samuel Paty this month in Paris.
One of the people killed inside the church was believed to be the church warden, Estrosi said, adding that a woman had tried to escape from inside the church and had fled into a bar opposite the 19th century neo-Gothic building.
“The suspected knife attacker was shot by police while being detained, he is on his way to hospital, he is alive,” Estrosi told reporters.
Police said three people were
confirmed to have died and several were injured. The French anti-terrorist prosecutor’s department said it had been asked to investigate.
A police source said a woman was decapitated. French far-right politician Marine Le Pen also spoke of a decapitation having occurred in the attack.
Prime Minister Jean Castex said France had raised the security alert for French territory to the highest level after the attack.
Reuters journalists at the scene said armed police officers had put up a security cordon around the church on Nice’s Jean Medecin avenue, the city’s main shopping thoroughfare.
French President Emmanuel Macron was due to visit Nice, said Estrosi.
A representative of the French Council for the Muslim Faith strongly condemned the attack.