(VOVWORLD) - The knife attacker who beheaded a woman and killed two other people in a church in the French city of Nice on Thursday before being shot by police was a 21-year-old Tunisian immigrant who arrived in France in early October, French police said.
 Police secure the crime scene (Photo: Reuters) |
According to chief anti-terrorist prosecutor Jean-Francois Ricard, Brahim Aouissaoui entered Europe on September 20 at Lampedusa, the Italian island off Tunisia that is the main landing point for migrants from Africa, before entering France in early October.
Ricard told a news conference in Nice that the man arrived in Nice by train early on Thursday morning and made his way to the church, where he stabbed and killed the 55-year-old sexton and beheaded a 60-year-old woman. He also stabbed a 44-year-old woman who fled to a nearby cafe where she raised the alarm before dying, Ricard said. Police then arrived and confronted the attacker, who was shouting “Allahu Akbar”, and shot and wounded him.
Following the Nice attack, Prime Minister Jean Castex raised France’s security alert to its highest level and increased patrol forces to nine thousand men.
French President Emmanuel Macron said the attack was against all of France and France will not give any ground.