Second arrest as investigators probe terror knife attack in French church

Detectives investigating the suspected jihadist attack by a Tunisian migrant who killed three people in a Nice church have detained a second suspect, as France raised its security alert amid tensions over cartoons mocking the Muslim prophet Muhammad.

Muslims held more anti-France protests across the Middle East and beyond yesterday, while mourners laid flowers and messages and lit candles at the entrance to the the Notre- Dame basilica where the horrific knife attack took place.

The attack er, Ibrahim Issaoui, was wounded by police and taken to hospital in life- threatening condition, authorities said. Anti- terrorism prosecutors in France and Tunisia are investigating.

The other suspect is a 47year-old man believed to have been in contact with the extremist the night before the attack, according to a judicial official.

The victims included 55- year- old Vincent Loques, a father- of- two who was the church's sacristan, in charge of its holy objects, according to broadcaster FranceBleu. Another was a44-year-old-mother-of-three from Brazil named Simone who had studied cooking in Nice and helped poor communities, France-B le us aid.

In an interview broadcast yesterday with Saudi- owned Al- Arabiya TV, the attacker's mother said she was shocked by the events.

She said she was surprised to hear her son was in France and had no idea what he was planning.

"You don't know the French language, you don't know anyone there, you're going to live alone there, why, why did you go there?" she said she told him over the phone when he arrived.

His brother told Al- Arabiya that Issaoui had informed the family he would sleep in front of the church, and sent them a photograph showing him at the cathedral. "He didn't tell me anything," he said.

A neighbour said he knew the attacker when he was a mechanic and held various other odd jobs, and had shown no signs of radicalisation.

France' s anti-terrorism prosecutor said the suspect is a Tunisian born in 1999 who reached the Italian island of Lampedusa, a key l anding point for migrants crossing in boats from north Africa, on September 20, and travelled to Bari, a port in southern Italy, on October 9.

It is not clear when he arrived in Nice.

Tunisians fleeing a virus-battered economy make up the largest contingent of migrants landing in Italy this year. Italian media said that from Lamped us a, where Issaoui was one of 1,300 arriving migrants on September 20, he was placed with 800 others on a virus quarantine boat in Puglia.

After the two- week quarantine, he received a notice that he was being expelled from Italy for illegal entry and was given seven days to leave the country, according to Milan daily Corriere della Sera.

The attack was the third in less than two months attributed to Muslim extremists in France, including the beheading of a schoolteacher who had shown caricatures of Muhammad in class after they were republished by satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo.