France ‘under attack’: Terrorist kills three in church horror, victim leaves final message for kids
More details have emerged of the young immigrant, who killed three people – beheading one – in a terrorist attack in Nice, after Scott Morrison condemned the act.
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A photo has emerged of the 21-year-old Tunisian immigrant, who killed three people – beheading one – in a terrorist attack at a French church in Nice.
Brahim Aoussaoui allegedly decapitated an elderly female parishioner before slitting the throat of Vincent Loques, a 45-year-old father of two and the church’s warden, before fatally stabbing a second woman, also in her 40s.
Aoussaoui was then shot and arrested by police.
Police allege he was born in Tunisia in 1999 and came to France on Wednesday this week.
France’s anti-terrorism prosecutor Jean-Francois Ricard said he travelled from Tunisia to the Italian city of Lampedusa on September 20.
He had been in mandatory COVID-19 quarantine before being released.
He travelled to Paris on October 9 but did not make a bid for political asylum, according to reports.
The details come as the heartbreaking words of his other 40-something female victim were later made public.
“‘Tell my children that I love them,’ The last words of the lady slaughtered this morning in #Nice, just before passing away. Immense emotion in front of this abominable attack. Support for the families of the victims and all the inhabitants of Nice, a martyred city,” French diplomat Joëlle Garriaud-Maylam tweeted.
A shaken French President Emmanuel Macron declared that France was “under attack” but vowed that the country “will not give up on our values” in what he called an “Islamist terrorist attack”.
Mr Macron offered condolences to the country’s Catholics after the killing, and urged people of all religions to unite and not “give in to the spirit of division”.
It comes as further suspected attacks were thwarted in the French cities of Avignon, Lyon and Sartrouville in the hours following the Nice incident.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison labelled the attack as a “vicious act of barbarism” and revealed he has offered Australia’s support to the French President.
“This terrible, disgraceful and disgusting attack that occurred in France has been widely seen and widely reported and that is what has occurred,” he told Sydney radio station 2GB.
“It is just the most callous and cowardly and vicious act of barbarism by terrorists and I condemn it in the strongest possible way.”
“I was able to contact President Emmanuel Macron last night, he and I have a very good relationship and I said we stood with him. And, just the heartache that would be going across the French people today as it shatters through the rest of the world it is hard to put into words but he greatly appreciated the contact and the support he knows he has from the people of Australia.”
Mr Morrison also said any Australians who hold concerns for family in France should contact the Department of Foreign Affairs.
The Nice attack happened at 9am local time (7pm AEDT) just as a mass was about to start at the Notre Dame church, the largest in the famous French coastal town.
Police described the scene as a “vision of horror”, while France’s national anti-terrorist prosecutor said an investigation had been opened into “killings linked to a terrorist organisation”.
Prior to his arrest the attacker was shot in the shoulder by police and was taken to hospital with non-life threatening injuries.
The mayor of Nice, Christian Estrosi, said the man had said “Allahu Akbar” multiple times while he was being detained by police.
“We have two people killed inside the church … and a third person who was in a bar facing the church where she had taken refuge,” Mr Estrosi said. “Enough is enough … we have to remove this Islamo-fascism from our territory.”
“I am on site with the [police] who arrested the perpetrator of the attack,” Mr Estrosi added.
“I confirm that everything suggests a terrorist attack in the Basilica of Notre-Dame de Nice.”
“He (the attacker) kept repeating ‘Allahu Akbar’ (God is Greater) even while under medication” after he was injured during his arrest, Mr Estrosi told journalists at the scene.
Two victims died at the Basilica of Notre-Dame, while a third person died of injuries after seeking refuge in a nearby bar, a police source told reporters.
“The situation is now under control,” police spokeswoman Florence Gavello said.
French Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin confirmed there was an incident.
“#Nice: a police operation is in progress. Avoid the area and follow the instructions. After having had the mayor of Nice @cestrosi, I’m chairing a crisis meeting at the Home Office,” he tweeted.
Je suis sur place avec la @PoliceNat06 et la @pmdenice qui a interpellé l’auteur de l’attaque. Je confirme que tout laisse supposer à un attentat terroriste au sein de la basilique Notre-Dame de #Nice06. pic.twitter.com/VmpDqRwzB1
— Christian Estrosi (@cestrosi) October 29, 2020
FURTHER ATTACKS FOILED
Two hours after the initial attack, police shot dead a man who was carrying a knife and threatening passers-by in the street in the town of Avignon, 260km away from Nice.
According to reports, the man was shot at 11.15am local time (9.15pm AEDT) on Thursday.
The attacker threatened people with his knife but was shot by police before he was able to hurt anyone, the report said.
Elsewhere a security guard was stabbed and wounded outside the French consulate in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, while two other men were arrested – one while carrying a knife near a church in Sartrouville after his father reported he was about to carry out a Nice-style attack, and another who tried to board a train in Lyon carrying a long blade.
“He was carrying a 30-centimetre knife and seemed ready to take action,” Pierre Oliver, the mayor of Lyon’s Second Arrondissement said.
The latest attacks come amid heightened tensions in France over plans to crack down on radical Islam.
Two weeks ago a French teacher, Samuel Paty, was beheaded in Paris after he had shown his class cartoons and caricatures – including one of the Prophet Muhammad – in a discussion about freedom of speech.
Mr Paty was killed outside of the Paris high school he taught at.
There have been marches in solidarity with Mr Paty since his death in France, with the cartoons, which Muslims claim were blasphemous, being publicly displayed.
It has also led to a feud between French president Emmanuel Macron and Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Mr Macron had pledged to crack down on radical Islam in response to the murder of Mr Paty.
France recalled its ambassador back from Turkey after Mr Erdogan questioned the French leader’s mental health and claimed that he had a problem with Islam.
WORLD LEADERS CONDEMN ATTACK
It comes as world leaders condemned Thursday’s deadly stabbings in Nice, which authorities are investigating as a terrorist act, and expressed solidarity with France.
Condemnation came from the pope and European leaders as well as from Turkey, which is involved in a heated diplomatic spat with Paris over cartoons mocking the prophet.
“We strongly condemn the attack committed today inside the Notre-Dame church in Nice,” a Turkish foreign ministry statement said.
It also expressed solidarity with France, and offered condolences to the relatives of the three people killed in the attack.
European Union leaders expressed solidarity with France as well, and pledged to confront “those that seek to incite and spread hatred”.
“I condemn the odious and brutal attack that has just taken place in Nice and I am with France with all my heart,” European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen tweeted.
“My thoughts are with the victims of this hateful act. All of Europe is in solidarity with France. We will remain united and determined in the face of barbarity and fanaticism.”
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said, “I am deeply shaken by the brutal murders in the church in Nice. My thoughts are with the relatives of those murdered and injured. Germany stands with France at this difficult time.”
Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte condemned what he called a “vile attack” and said it “will not shake the common front defending the values of freedom and peace.
“Our convictions are stronger than fanaticism, hatred and terror.”
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said: “We continue to defend freedom, our democratic values, peace and the security of our citizens. United against terror and hatred.”
Pope Francis prayed for the victims as the Vatican said that “terrorism and violence can never be accepted.
“Today’s attack has sown death in a place of love and consolation. The Pope is aware of the situation and is close to the mourning Catholic community,” Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said.
The pontiff urged people in France to “unite to combat evil with good”.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson pledged solidarity with Paris in the fight against extremism.
“I am appalled to hear the news from Nice this morning of a barbaric attack at the Notre-Dame Basilica,” he tweeted in English and French.
“Our thoughts are with the victims and their families, and the UK stands steadfastly with France against terror and intolerance.”
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