Knife attack in France leaves 3 dead, woman beheaded
Monitoring Desk:
A knife attacked left three people dead inside a Church in the French city of Nice, police said. The attacker beheaded a woman in the same attack. The Mayor of Nice described the attack as terrorism.
Mayor Christian Estrosi said on Twitter the knife attack had happened in or near the city’s Notre Dame church and that police had detained the attacker. Police said three people were confirmed to have died in the attack and several were injured. A police source said a woman was decapitated. French politician Marine Le Pen also spoke of a decapitation having occurred in the attack.
The attack comes while France is still reeling from the beheading earlier this month of French middle school teacher Samuel Paty in Paris by a man of Chechen origin. The attacker had said he wanted to punish Paty for showing pupils sketches of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) in a civics lesson.
It was not immediately clear what the motive was for the Nice attack, or if there was any connection to the blasphemous sketches.
Knife attack in France leaves 3 dead, woman beheaded