France terror attacks: Three killed in Nice before gunman shot in Avignon
France under attack: Jihadist murders three worshippers – including two who were beheaded – INSIDE Nice church + Gunman screaming ‘Allahu Akbar’ is shot dead by cops in Avignon + French consulate worker is stabbed in Saudi Arabia
- Two terror attacks have hit France, the first at the Notre Dame cathedral in Nice and the second in Avignon
- Knifeman beheaded two people – an elderly female parishioner and a male church warden – at 9am in Nice, fatally stabbed a second woman and wounded others before being shot and arrested by police
- Two hours later man armed with a handgun and shouting Allahu Akbar was shot and killed by cops in Avignon
- Meanwhile a guard at the French consulate in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, was stabbed and wounded by a knifeman
- Attacks come after Macron sparked fury by defending cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed, and amid the Mawlid festival when Muslims celebrate the Prophet’s birthday
France has been struck by two terror attacks within hours of each other as three people were killed – two of them beheaded – in an attack in Nice before a gunman was shot dead by police in Avignon.
The first attack began around 9am at the Notre Dame cathedral in Nice where a knifeman beheaded an elderly female parishioner and a male church warden, fatally stabbed a second woman, wounded several others, and was then shot and arrested by police.
Two hours later, a gunman threatened people on the streets of Avignon – 120 miles from Nice – while shouting ‘Allahu Akbar’ before he was fatally shot by police.
A security guard at the French consulate in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, was then stabbed and wounded.
The attacks come amid fury across the Islamic world at President Macron for defending satirical cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed and on the day that Sunni Muslims mark the Prophet’s birthday.
It also comes less than two weeks after a schoolteacher, Samuel Paty, was beheaded north of Paris for showing cartoons of the Prophet to his class in a lesson on free speech.
In the Nice attack, the elderly female victim was attacked after coming there early to pray and was found ‘almost beheaded’ close to the church font. A church warden was then attacked and also beheaded.
A third woman was stabbed ‘multiple times’ and managed to flee to a bar across the street, where she died. A local called police, who arrived at 9.10am and stormed the cathedral, shooting and arresting the attacker.
Three people have died – two of whom were beheaded – after a knifeman attacked the Notre Dame cathedral in Nice at 9am on Friday, before he was shot by police and beheaded
An elderly woman who had come to the church early to pray was the first to be beheaded before a male church warden was also killed. A third woman was then stabbed multiple times, ran across the street, and died of her injuries
Police who stormed the cathedral said the body of the first woman was found close to the font (file image of the interior). The suspect is believed to be a man in his 20s who gave his name as ‘Brahim’
Police swarmed the area around 9am, running into the cathedral before the attacker was shot and arrested. Mayor Christian Estrosi said the attacker kept shouting Allahu Akbar even after being medicated
At least three people have been killed – two of them beheaded – and several more stabbed in a terror attack at the Notre Dame cathedral in the French city of Nice (pictured, a wounded person is taken from the scene)
A security officer secures the area after a reported knife attack at Notre Dame church in Nice
The first attack took place at 9am in Nice, before the second attack in Avignon two hours later. Separately, a guard at the French consulate in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, was stabbed
The attacker is a man in his 20s who gave his name as Brahim while being arrested, Le Figaro reported. His identity is being checked by police.
Nice Mayor Christian Estrosi said the attacker ‘kept shouting Allahu Akbar even after being medicated’, and that ‘the meaning of his gesture is not in doubt’.
‘Enough is enough,’ he 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.’
Estrosi said the victims had been killed in a ‘horrible way’. ‘The methods match, without doubt, those used against the brave teacher in Conflans Sainte Honorine, Samuel Paty,’ he said.
He also called for churches around France to be given extra protection or closed as a precaution.
In Avignon, a man armed with a handgun began threatening people in the Montfavet around 11.15am, with police rushing to the scene.The man then threatened the officers, who opened fire and killed him, France1 reported.
The Nice attack happened less than half a mile from where another attacker plowed a truck into a Bastille Day crowd in 2016, killing dozens.
Police confirmed that the anti-terror prosecutor has been charged with carrying out the investigation on charges of murder and attempted murder.
Emmanuel Macron led an emergency cabinet meeting on the attack, before leaving for Nice, where he is expected to arrive shortly.
French politicians were taking part in a debate on the country’s new coronavirus restrictions when news of the attack reached them.
They observed a minute of silence before the debate broke up so an emergency security meeting could be held.
Images on French media showed the neighborhood locked down and surrounded by police and emergency vehicles. Sounds of explosions could be heard as sappers exploded suspicious objects.
The Catholic Church issued a statement, condemning the ‘unspeakable act’ and saying that ‘Christians must not become a symbol to be cut down.’
The French Council of Muslim Worship also issued a statement strongly condemning the attack.
‘As a sign of mourning and solidarity with the victims and their relatives, I call on the Muslims of France to cancel all the festivities of the Mawlid feast,’ which takes place on October 28 and 29.
The attack is just the latest to strike France, after history teacher Samuel Paty was beheaded in another attack north of Paris.
Paty was stabbed by an 18-year-old Chechen after he showed the cartoons to his students during a lesson on free speech.
A security officer guards the area after a reported knife attack at Notre Dame church in Nice
French policemen stand guard a street after a knife attack in Nice
French policemen and firefighters stand guard a street after a knife attack in Nice
The attack is thought to have begun around 9am before police were called, and arrested the perpetrator. The area is now cordoned off
Armed police approach the church where the attack is thought to have started during Mass
Armed police are seen on the streets of Nice after the attack early on Thursday
The attack began around 9am just as Mass was getting underway at the cathedral, the largest Roman Catholic church in Nice
Parents of pupils at the school had led a campaign against him, before the attack took place. Seven have been arrested.
Just a few weeks earlier, an 18-year-old Pakistani stabbed a wounded two people outside the old offices of satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo.
The man has admitted to police that he was targeting the magazine for publishing cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson also spoke out to condemn the attack, tweeting: ‘I am appalled to hear the news from Nice this morning of a barbaric attack at the Notre-Dame Basilica.
‘Our thoughts are with the victims and their families, and the UK stands steadfastly with France against terror and intolerance.’
It also comes amid mass protests in many Islamic countries against Emmanuel Macron, after the French President spoke up in defence of the cartoons.
Tweeting in Arabic, he wrote: ‘Nothing makes us hold back, ever. We respect all differences in the spirit of peace. We never accept hate speech and defend rational debate.
‘We will always stand by human dignity and universal values.’
His remarks have prompted demonstrations in Gaza, Turkey, Pakistan and Bangladesh, and boycotts of French products in Jordan, Kuwait, Qatar and Palestinian territories.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has led outrage at Macron, suggesting that he is mentally ill and needs to have his health evaluated.
The Islamic world’s anger at France deepened on Wednesday as Turkey condemned a Charlie Hebdo cartoon showing its president Recep Tayyip Erdogan lifting a woman’s burka to look at her naked backside.
Erdogan called the cartoonists ‘scoundrels’ and accused the West of wanting to ‘relaunch the Crusades’ by attacking Islam after the image appeared on the front of this week’s magazine.
‘I don’t need to say anything to those scoundrels who insult my beloved prophet on such a scale,’ Erdogan said, calling it a ‘disgusting attack’.
Showing Erdogan in a T-shirt and underpants, the caricature has Erdogan saying ‘Ooh, the Prophet’ as he looks at the woman’s backside, and comes with the caption: ‘Erdogan – in private he’s very funny’.
A Charlie Hebdo cartoon showing the naked Prophet’s backside was the image which French school teacher Samuel Paty showed to his class in the lesson which led to his murder and beheading earlier this month.
French president Emmanuel Macron has staunchly defended free expression and the right to mock religion in the wake of the terror attack, but has become a target of anger in the Islamic world.
Turkey has vowed to take ‘legal, diplomatic actions’ in response to the cartoon while Pakistan’s PM Imran Khan called for an end to ‘attacks on Islam’, saying the West should be willing to treat blasphemy in the same way as Holocaust denial.
Meanwhile Iran’s president Hassan Rouhani also took aim at France today by warning that insulting the Prophet would encourage ‘violence and bloodshed’.
French politicians were taking part in a coronavirus lockdown debate when the news reached them – and held a minute of silence in the chamber (pictured)
French police officers stand at a security perimeter following a knife attack at the Notre Dame Basilica church in Nice
French policemen stand guard a street after a knife attack in Nice
Police officers secure the area after a reported knife attack at Notre Dame church in Nice
Police cordon off the street leading to the cathedral after the attack on Thursday
