Three people have been killed in a knife attack in the French city of Nice, according to the latest reports. Nice Mayor Christian Estrosi said there had been a “terrorist attack at the heart of the Notre-Dame basilica”.
One elderly victim who had come to pray was “virtually beheaded”. The suspect was apprehended shortly after the attack. The attack took place near Notre Damme church and police arrested the perpetrator and took him to hospital as he sustained gunshot wounds, according to local media.
Nice’s mayor, Christian Estrosi, who described the attack as terrorism, said on Twitter it had happened in or near the city’s Notre Dame church. Estrosi said the attacker had repeatedly shouted the phrase “Allahu Akbar”, or God is greatest, even after he had been detained by police.
One of the people killed inside the church was believed to be the churchwarden, Estrosi said, adding that a woman had tried to escape from inside the church and had fled into a bar opposite the building.
“The suspected knife attacker was shot by police while being detained, he is on his way to the hospital, he is alive,” Estrosi told reporters.
“Enough is enough,” Estrosi said. “It’s time now for France to exonerate itself from the laws of peace in order to definitively wipe out Islamo-fascism from our territory.”
