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Terrorism in Nice, France: The Suspect Kept Repeating Allah u Akbar


New Age Islam News Bureau

29 October 2020


People step on a poster of French President Emmanuel Macron as they arrive to a rally marking the birthday of Prophet Muhammad in Sanaa, Yemen October 29, 2020. REUTERS/Khaled Abdullah

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The Suspect Kept Repeating Allah u Akbar: Deadly Knife Attack in Nice Is Terrorism, French Officials Say

France Attack: Deadly Stabbing In Nice 'Is Terrorism', Says Mayor

Kremlin, After French Attacks, Says Wrong To Kill But Wrong To Insult Religion Too

France Church Attack: What We Know And What We Don't

Knife Attacker In French City Of Nice Shouted 'Allahu Akbar': Mayor

Knife Attack In French City Nice Leaves Three Dead

France Raises Its Alert Level To Maximum After Nice Attack

Knife-Wielding Man Shouts 'Allahu Akbar' Before Killing Three In Nice; Factcheck On Deadly Attacks In France

Woman Beheaded As 3 Killed At France Church, Mayor Says Terror Attack

Three Dead As Woman Beheaded In Knife Attack At French Church

Killings In Nice, France: The Attack Comes While France Is Still Reeling From The Beheading Of French Teacher Samuel Paty By A Man Of Chechen Origin

Man Arrested In Saudi Arabia After Alleged Knife Attack At French Consulate

Compiled by New Age Islam News Bureau

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 The Suspect Kept Repeating Allah u Akbar: Deadly Knife Attack in Nice Is Terrorism, French Officials Say

By Constant Méheut and Aurelien Breeden

Oct. 29, 2020\

People step on a poster of French President Emmanuel Macron as they arrive to a rally marking the birthday of Prophet Muhammad in Sanaa, Yemen October 29, 2020. REUTERS/Khaled Abdullah

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PARIS — Less than two weeks after the beheading of a French schoolteacher, an assailant carrying a knife entered the towering gothic basilica in the southern city of Nice early Thursday and killed three people, further inflaming tensions in a county already on edge and leading authorities to increase the terror threat level.

Officials in Nice described the attack as Islamist terrorism, and it was quickly followed by two similar events — including a knife-wielding assailant outside a French Consulate in Saudi Arabia — though it was not immediately clear whether the events were coordinated.

The mayor of Nice, Christian Estrosi, told reporters on Thursday that a suspect, who has not been identified, was arrested after being shot and wounded by the police. The suspect “kept repeating Allahu akbar in front of us even though he was sedated,” Mr. Estrosi said, adding this left “no doubt” as to the motivation behind the attack.

Prime Minister Jean Castex quickly announced that authorities were placing the country on its highest terrorism threat level, with heightened security at places of worship, and he said the response to the attack would be “firm and relentless.”

“This attack, which is as craven as it is barbaric, plunges the entire country into mourning,” Mr. Castex told lawmakers in Paris.

The killings in Nice come at an extremely sensitive time for France, which is still shaken by the beheading of the teacher, Samuel Paty, and is about to enter a monthlong lockdown because of the coronavirus.

Since Mr. Paty’s killing in a Paris suburb by a young Muslim man, the French authorities have undertaken a broad crackdown against what they characterized as Muslim extremists in France, conducting dozens of raids, temporarily closing a major mosque and disbanding a Muslim aid group that authorities accuse of “advocating radical Islam” and hate speech.

Those measures have found widespread support in a nation still traumatized by Islamic State-inspired terrorist attacks in recent years — including two that killed a total of more than 200 people.

But President Emmanuel Macron’s vow that France would protect the right to caricature the Prophet Muhammad have drawn harsh criticism in the Muslim world. And the tone of some of Mr. Macron’s ministers — one of them said he objected to kosher or halal aisles in supermarkets — has left France’s Muslim population of about 6 million people feeling increasingly alienated.

While it is not yet clear whether Thursday’s attack was carried out in response to the government’s measures, they immediately fortified calls among the French authorities for even tougher efforts to combat Islamist extremism in ways almost certain to deepen the polarization of the country.

“There is a woman who quite clearly was attacked with the same modus operandi as Samuel Paty,” the Nice mayor, Mr. Estrosi, told BFM TV, referring to the teacher who was killed by a young Muslim in mid-October after showing caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad in a class.

“Enough is enough,” Mr. Estrosi said. “It is now time for France to exempt itself of peacetime laws to permanently annihilate Islamo-facism from our territory.”

President Emmanuel Macron himself has vowed to crack down on what he called “Islamist separatism” with a range of measures aimed at countering extremism within the Muslim community.

The measures include placing stringent limits on home-schooling and increasing scrutiny of religious schools, making associations that solicit public funds sign a “charter” on secularism, and phasing out the widespread practice of bringing over foreign imams to work in France while investing in home-based training of imams.

After the attack in Nice, at the city’s largest church, Notre-Dame de L’Assomption, France’s antiterrorism prosecutor said that the office had opened an investigation into terrorism-related offenses.

Two of the victims were killed in the church itself, while a third died after taking refuge in a nearby bar, the mayor said.

Not long after, in Avignon, a man with a handgun who threatened bystanders was shot and killed by police officers, according to local news reports, though it was not clear that the incident was terrorism related. And at the French Consulate in the Saudi city of Jeddah, a suspect was quickly arrested after a separate knife attack that wounded a security guard, who was hospitalized.

In recent years, France has experienced several attacks like those carried out on Thursday. The country faced a string of mass casualty attacks in 2015 and 2016 by organized networks, but the most recent assaults have more often been isolated acts carried out by lone assailants living in France, something that can be harder to prevent.

None of the assailants in two previous attacks this fall, including a stabbing in September near the former offices of Charlie Hebdo — the satirical newspaper that printed caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad — were known to the authorities.

In 2016, Nice was traumatized by one of France’s worst terrorist attacks, when a man plowed a 19-ton refrigeration truck into crowds that had gathered on the city’s main seaside promenade to watch fireworks, killing 86.

The police warned residents to stay away from the area around the church on Thursday as a “very serious” event was underway and controlled explosives were being used to clear the church of any suspicious packages. They also urged residents to remain calm. Videos posted to social media showed lines of people filing out of the area around the church as police evacuated the scene.

Lawmakers who were present at the National Assembly, the lower house of the French Parliament, observed a minute of silence on Thursday morning after hearing news of the attack.

The attack came just hours before France is scheduled to go back on a one-month lockdown because of the coronavirus pandemic, which has flared dangerously around Europe over the past weeks with a surge of cases and hospitalizations.

“I can only, once again in the very difficult circumstances that our country is going through, in the challenges it is undergoing, call on the entire national representation to unity and cohesion,” Jean Castex, the prime minister, told lawmakers.

France’s interior minister, Gérald Darmanin, said in a post on Twitter that he had immediately convened a crisis meeting. Mr. Macron, who joined the meeting, is expected in Nice later on Thursday.

Officials did not identify the victims, but Mr. Estrosi said one was the sacristan of the church. The Bishop’s Conference of France said in a statement that the victims were a “symbol” who had been targeted merely because they were in the basilica.

“Despite the pain that grips them, Catholics refuse to give in to fear and, with all of the nation, want to face this treacherous and blind threat,” the statement said.

It was not the first time a church was targeted by an attack. In 2016, the Rev. Jacques Hamel, an 85-year-old priest, was celebrating Mass in Normandy when two men with knives entered his small church and slit his throat. And a man is currently on trial in France for a failed plot to attack a church in Villejuif, a Parisian church, that left one woman dead.

Politicians from across the political the political spectrum condemned the attack, as well as French Muslim representatives.

Mohammed Moussaoui, the president of the French Council of Muslim Faith, asked French Muslims on Twitter to cancel all Mawlid festivities, which celebrate the birthday of the Prophet Muhammad, “as a sign of mourning and solidarity with the victims and their loved ones.”

Megan Specia contributed reporting from London.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/29/world/europe/nice-attack-france.html

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France Attack: Deadly Stabbing In Nice 'Is Terrorism', Says Mayor

29-10-2020


Three people have been killed in a knife attack at a church in the French city of Nice, police say.

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". A suspect was shot and detained shortly afterwards.

Mr Estrosi spoke of "Islamo-fascism" and said the suspect had "repeated endlessly 'Allahu Akbar' (God is greatest)."

President Emmanuel Macron is on his way to the scene. Anti-terror prosecutors have opened a murder inquiry and France raised its national security alert system to its highest level.

Mr Estrosi compared the attack to the recent murder of teacher Samuel Paty, who was beheaded close to his school outside Paris earlier this month.

Police have not suggested a motive for the attack in Nice. However, it follows days of protests in some Muslim-majority countries triggered by President Macron's defence of the publication of cartoons that depicted the Prophet Mohammed. There have been calls in some countries for a boycott of French goods.

Meanwhile, two further attacks took place on Thursday morning, one in France and one in Saudi Arabia.

A man was shot dead in Montfavet near Avignon after threatening police with a handgun. And a guard was attacked outside the French consulate in Jeddah in Saudi Arabia. A suspect was arrested and the guard taken to hospital.

What is known about the attack in Nice?

Two of those who died were attacked inside the church, the elderly woman and a man who was found with his throat cut, reports said.

A woman managed to flee to a nearby cafe after being stabbed several times, but died later.

It later emerged that a witness had managed to raise the alarm with a special protection system set up by the city.

Chloe, a witness who lives near the church, told the BBC: "We heard many people shouting in the street. We saw from the window that there were many, many policemen coming, and gunshots, many gunshots."

Tom Vannier, a journalism student who arrived at the scene just after the attack, told the BBC that people were crying on the street.

Four years ago Nice was the scene of another terror attack, when a Tunisian drove a truck into crowds celebrating Bastille Day on 14 July, killing 86 people.

Disorientated and frightened

The terrorist threat level in France is as high now as it was in 2015-16, the terrible days of Charlie Hebdo, Bataclan, the Nice lorry-killer and the murder of Father Hamel in his church in Rouen. Things were bad enough then - and many more people died in those attacks. So why does this outbreak of Islamist violence feel somehow more scary?

One reason must be the symbolism of the Samuel Paty beheading. That a simple history teacher could be murdered - and not randomly but actually selected for murder - has been deeply unsettling for French people. Likewise the targeting today of Christian worshippers in Nice.

But it is also the context: the instant logic of action-response that followed President Macron's robust defence of secularism at Samuel Paty's memorial 10 days ago. All it took was a speech, then there were the threats, then there were the deaths.

With a new Covid lockdown providing an eerie backdrop to these events, small wonder the French are feeling disoriented and frightened.

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What has the reaction been?

A minute's silence was held in the National Assembly, where Prime Minister Jean Castex had just been giving details of the Covid-19 lockdown measures coming into force on Thursday night.

Announcing the raising of the "vigipirate" national security alert system to its highest level, Mr Castex said the Nice attack was "as cowardly as it is barbaric".

The French Council of the Muslim Faith condemned the knife attack and spoke of its solidarity with the victims and their families.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, tweeting in English and French, said the UK stood "steadfastly" with France.

Presentational white space

Turkey, which has seen ties with France sour in recent days over remarks by Mr Macron, strongly condemned the "savage" knife attack.

Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said the killings had "brought death to a place of love and consolation".

He said Pope Francis had been informed of the situation and was "close to the mourning Catholic community".

What's the context?

Thursday's attack has echoes of another attack earlier this month near a school north-west of Paris. Samuel Paty, who was a teacher in Conflans-Sainte-Honorine, was beheaded days after showing controversial cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad to some of his pupils.

The murder has heightened tensions in France and the government's attempt to crack down on radical Islam has angered Turkey and other countries.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was among those calling for a boycott of French goods.

The situation worsened after a cartoon on Mr Erdogan appeared in the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo.

A timeline of recent attacks in France

October 2020: French teacher Samuel Paty is beheaded outside a school in a suburb of Paris

September 2020: Two people are stabbed and seriously hurt in Paris near the former offices of Charlie Hebdo, where Islamist militants carried out a deadly attack in 2015

July 2016: Two attackers kill a priest, Jacques Hamel, and seriously wound another hostage after storming a church in a suburb of Rouen in northern France

July 2016: A gunman drives a large lorry into a crowd celebrating Bastille Day in Nice, killing 86 people in an attack claimed by the Islamic State (IS) group

November 2015: Gunmen and suicide bombers launch multiple co-ordinated attacks on the Bataclan concert hall, a major stadium, restaurants and bars in Paris, leaving 130 people dead and hundreds wounded

January 2015: Two Islamist militant gunmen force their way into Charlie Hebdo's offices and shoot dead 12 people

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-54729957

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Kremlin, After French Attacks, Says Wrong To Kill But Wrong To Insult Religion Too

Oct 29, 2020

MOSCOW: The Kremlin, commenting on recent beheading incidents in France, said on Thursday it was unacceptable to kill people, but also wrong to insult the feelings of religious believers.

The Kremlin was commenting after a knife-wielding attacker shouting "Allahu Akbar" beheaded a woman and killed two other people in a suspected terrorist attack at a church in the French city of Nice.

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/europe/kremlin-after-french-attacks-says-wrong-to-kill-but-wrong-to-insult-religion-too/articleshow/78930870.cms

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France Church Attack: What We Know And What We Don't

Oct 29, 2020

NEW DELHI: A woman was beheaded by an attacker with a knife who also killed two other people at a church in the French city of Nice on Thursday, police said, in an incident the city's mayor described 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.

Within hours of the Nice attack, police killed a man who had threatened passersby with a handgun in Montfavet, near the southern French city of Avignon.

What we know so far about the attack:

* French anti-terrorism prosecutors are investigating the knife attack at the church in the Mediterranean city of Nice.

* The assailant was arrested after the Thursday morning attack at the Notre Dame Church and taken to a nearby hospital after being injured during his arrest, a police official said.

* He was believed to be acting alone and police are not searching for other assailants, the official said. The anti-terrorism prosecutor's office said an investigation was opened into an attack with a terrorist connection.

* Nice Mayor Christian Estrosi said the attacker shouted "Allahu Akbar!" repeatedly as police apprehended him and that "the meaning of his gesture left no doubt."

* France has raised the security alert for French territory to the highest level after the knife attack. Castex also told French National Assembly that the government's response to the attack would be firm and implacable.

* It was not immediately clear if Thursday's attack was connected to the cartoons, which Muslims consider to be blasphemous.

* One of the people killed inside the church was believed to be the church warden, Estrosi said.

* Images on French media showed the neighborhood locked down and surrounded by police and emergency vehicles. Police armed with automatic weapons had put up a security cordon around the church, which is on Nice's Jean Medecin avenue, the city's main shopping thoroughfare. Ambulances and fire service vehicles were also at the scene.

* The lower house of parliament suspended a debate on new virus restrictions and held a moment of silence Thursday for the victims.

* The French Council of the Muslim Faith condemned the Nice attack and called on French Muslims to refrain from festivities this week marking the birth of Muhammed "as a sign of mourning and in solidarity with the victims and their loved ones."

* The exact motive of the attack was unclear but comes as France is under alert for Islamic extremist acts amid tensions over caricatures of the Muslim Prophet Muhammad published by satirical French weekly Charlie Hebdo, and after two other recent attacks in France with links to the cartoons.

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/europe/france-church-attack-what-we-know-and-what-we-dont/articleshow/78929988.cms

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Knife Attacker In French City Of Nice Shouted 'Allahu Akbar': Mayor

Oct 29, 2020

PARIS: The man suspected of carrying out a fatal knife attack at a church in the southern French city of Nice kept shouting "Allahu Akbar" (God is Greatest) even after he had been arrested by police, Nice Mayor Christian Estrosi told reporters.

Meanwhile, France's anti-terrorist body said it was looking into the fatal knife attack that took place on Thursday morning.

A police source said a woman was decapitated. French politician Marine Le Pen also spoke of a decapitation having occurred in the attack.

The French anti-terrorist prosecutor's department said it had been asked to investigate 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 cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad in a civics lesson.

Since Paty's killing, French officials - backed by many ordinary citizens - have re-asserted the right to display the cartoons, and the images have been widely displayed at marches in solidarity with the killed teacher.

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/europe/knife-attacker-in-french-city-of-nice-shouted-allahu-akbar-mayor/articleshow/78929579.cms

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Knife Attack In French City Nice Leaves Three Dead

29 Oct 2020

An attacker with a knife killed at least three people at a church in the French city of Nice on Thursday, officials said, in an incident the city’s mayor described as “terrorism”.

Mayor Christian Estrosi, a former MP with the right-wing Republicans party, said on Twitter that police had detained the attacker after shooting him.

Estrosi tweeted: “I can confirm everything suggests this was a terror attack in the Notre-Dame Basilica,” in central Nice.

He claimed that two women and one man were dead. One woman took refuge in a nearby bar where she succumbed to her injuries. The other was killed in the most “horrible” way, he said, “like the professor” – an apparent reference to the recent attack on French teacher Samuel Paty, who was beheaded in broad daylight.

Later, in a separate development, police killed a suspect in the southern French city Avignon who they said had threatened passersby with a handgun.

In a third development on Thursday, amid growing tensions between France and the Muslim world, Saudi state-run media said a man was detained after he stabbed and slightly wounded guard at the French Consulate in Jeddah.

President Emmanuel Macron was heading to the city, while Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin held a crisis meeting as he warned people to avoid the site of the attack.

A representative of the French Council for the Muslim Faith condemned the attack.

“As a sign of mourning and solidarity with the victims and their loved ones, I call on all Muslims in France to cancel all the celebrations of the holiday of Mawlid,” the spokesman said.

The holiday is the birthday of the Prophet Mohammad, which is being celebrated Thursday.

Officials across the political spectrum offered their sympathies.

Jean-Luc Melenchon, leader of the left-wing France Insoumise party, tweeted: “Thoughts of compassion for the victims of the attack in #Nice.”

Anne Hidalgo, the left-wing mayor of Paris, said: “My first thoughts go to the victims and their loved ones affected by this horrible attack. The people of Nice, as well as it’s mayor @cestrosi, can count on support from the city of Paris.”

But Marine Le Pen, a leading far-right figure, adopted a provocative tone, calling for the “eradication of Islamism from our soil”.

The anti-terrorism prosecutor’s office said an investigation had been opened into an attack with a terrorist connection.

Meanwhile, the lower house of parliament suspended a debate on new coronavirus restrictions – the country will go into a fresh lockdown on Friday, and held a moment of silence for the victims.

Thursday’s attack comes while France is still reeling from the killing of Paty, by a man of Chechen origin.

The attacker had said he wanted to punish Paty for showing pupils caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad in a civics lesson.

In a comment on recent beheadings in France, the Kremlin said on Thursday it was unacceptable to kill people, but also wrong to insult the feelings of religious believers.

It was not immediately clear what the motive was for the Nice attack, or if there was any connection to the cartoons, which Muslims consider deeply offensive.

Since Paty’s killing, French officials – backed by many citizens – have re-asserted the right to display the cartoons, and the images have been widely displayed at marches in solidarity with the slain teacher.

That has prompted an outpouring of anger in parts of the Muslim world, with some governments accusing French leader Emmanuel Macron of pursuing an anti-Islam agenda. Muslims deeply revere the Prophet and find the caricatures, which often link Islam to “terrorism”, offensive.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/10/29/knife-attack-in-french-city-nice-leaves-one-dead-several-hurt

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France Raises Its Alert Level To Maximum After Nice Attack

By LORI HINNANT

October 29, 2020

PARIS (AP) — France’s prime minister says the country is going on emergency alert after the killings of three people at the Notre Dame Basilica in the southern city of Nice.

A man armed with a knife attacked two women and a man at the church Thursday morning before he was shot by police. As he lay wounded, the Nice mayor said the attacker repeated “Allah Akbar!” over and over. French authorities have opened a terrorism investigation.

Prime Minister Jean Castex told French lawmakers that the country would raise its alert level to “emergency” in response to the attack, which comes during high tensions over the re-publication of caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad by the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo. The caricatures have ignited Muslim anger around the world.

Castex’s announcement came hours before France was to go into a one-month coronavirus lockdown.

Thursday’s attack was the third since a terrorism trial opened in the January 2015 attacks against Charlie Hebdo and a kosher supermarket.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.

PARIS (AP) — An attacker armed with a knife killed three people at a church Thursday in the Mediterranean city of Nice, French authorities said. It was the third attack in two months in France amid a growing furor over caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad that were re-published by the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo.

Other confrontations and attacks were reported Thursday in the southern city of Avignon and in the Saudi city of Jiddah, but it was not immediately clear if they were linked to the attack in Nice.

Thursday’s assailant in Nice was wounded by police and hospitalized after the killings at the Notre Dame Basilica, less than a kilometer (half-mile) from the site in 2016 where another attacker plowed a truck into a Bastille Day crowd, killing dozens of people.

France’s anti-terrorism prosecutor’s office opened an investigation into the Nice killings, which marked the third attack since the September opening of the trial of 14 people linked to the January 2015 killings at Charlie Hebdo and a kosher supermarket. The gunmen in the 2015 attacks claimed allegiance to the Islamic State group and al-Qaida.

Thursday’s attacker was believed to be acting alone and police are not searching for other assailants, said two police officials, who were not authorized to be publicly named.

“He cried ‘Allah Akbar!’ over and over, even after he was injured,” said Nice Mayor Christian Estrosi, who told BFM television that two women and a man had died, two inside the church and a third who fled to a nearby bar but was mortally wounded. “The meaning of his gesture left no doubt.”

French media showed the Nice neighborhood locked down and surrounded by police and emergency vehicles. Sounds of explosions could be heard as sappers exploded suspicious objects.

The lower house of parliament suspended a debate on France’s new virus restrictions and held a moment of silence Thursday for the victims. Prime Minister Jean Castex rushed from the hall to a crisis center overseeing the aftermath of the Nice attack. French President Emmanuel Macron was headed to Nice later in the day.

In the southern city of Avignon later in the morning, an armed man was shot to death by police after he refused to drop his weapon and a flash-ball shot failed to stop him, one police official said. And a Saudi state-run news agency said a man stabbed a guard at the French consulate in Jiddah, wounding the guard before he was arrested.

The French Council of the Muslim Faith condemned the Nice attack and called on French Muslims to refrain from festivities this week marking the birth of Muhammad “as a sign of mourning and in solidarity with the victims and their loved ones.”

Islamic State extremists issued a video on Wednesday renewing calls for attacks against France.

Turkey’s Foreign Ministry strongly condemned the attack in Nice.

We stand in solidarity with the people of France against terror and violence,” the statement said.

Relations between Turkey and France hit a new low after Turkey’s president on Saturday accused Macron of Islamophobia over the caricatures and questioned his mental health, prompting Paris to recall its ambassador to Turkey for consultations.

The attack came less than two weeks after another assailant decapitated a French middle school teacher who showed the caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad for a class on free speech. Those caricatures were published by Charlie Hebdo and cited by the men who gunned down the newspaper’s editorial meeting in 2015.

In September, a man who had sought asylum in France attacked bystanders outside Charlie Hebdo’s former offices with a butcher knife.

https://apnews.com/article/international-news-shootings-france-arrests-terrorist-attacks-155dc69a8c360ea6ed72280b8188f8ab

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Knife-Wielding Man Shouts 'Allahu Akbar' Before Killing Three In Nice; Factcheck On Deadly Attacks In France

Edited By: Ananya Das

October 29, 2020

In yet another shocking and brutal attack in France, a knife-wielding man shouting "Allahu Akbar" beheaded a woman and killed two other people in a suspected terrorist attack at a church in Nice on Thursday, police and officials said.

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.

Attacker kept saying 'Allahu Akbar': 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 and that police had detained the attacker. Estrosi said the attacker had shouted the phrase "Allahu Akbar", or God is greatest. One of the people killed inside the church was believed to be the churchwarden, Estrosi said. "The attacker kept shouting "Allahu Akbar" even after he had been detained, Estrosi said.

https://zeenews.india.com/world/knife-wielding-man-shouts-allahu-akbar-before-killing-three-in-nice-factcheck-on-deadly-attacks-in-france-2320962.html

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Woman Beheaded As 3 Killed At France Church, Mayor Says Terror Attack

October 29, 2020

Nice: A knife-wielding attacker shouting "Allahu Akbar" beheaded a woman and killed two other people in a suspected terrorist incident at a church in the French city of Nice on Thursday, police and officials said.

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 church warden, 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 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."

Reuters journalists at the scene said police armed with automatic weapons had put up a security cordon around the church, which is on Nice's Jean Medecin avenue, the city's main shopping thoroughfare. Ambulances and fire service vehicles were also at the scene.

SOLIDARITY

French President Emmanuel Macron is due to visit Nice, Estrosi said.

In Paris, lawmakers in the National Assembly observed a minute's silence in solidarity with the victims.

Police said three people were confirmed to have died in the attack and several were injured. The French anti-terrorist prosecutor's department said it had been asked to investigate.

A police source said a woman was decapitated. French politician Marine Le Pen also spoke of a decapitation having occurred in the attack.

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, referring to a French teacher beheaded earlier this month in an attack in a suburb of Paris.

The attack comes while France is still reeling from the beheading earlier this month of middle school teacher Paty by a man of Chechen origin.

The attacker had said he wanted to punish Paty for showing pupils cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad in a civics lesson.

It was not immediately clear if Thursday's attack was connected to the cartoons, which Muslims consider to be blasphemous.

Since Paty's killing, French officials - backed by many ordinary citizens - have re-asserted the right to display the cartoons, and the images have been widely displayed at marches in solidarity with the killed teacher.

That has prompted an outpouring of anger in parts of the Muslim world, with some governments accusing Macron of pursuing an anti-Islam agenda.

https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/two-dead-in-knife-attack-in-french-church-official-says-terrorism-suspected-2317500

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Three Dead As Woman Beheaded In Knife Attack At French Church

OCTOBER 29, 2020

France raises security threat level to highest, says PM Jean Castex

A knife-wielding attacker shouting “Allahu Akbar” beheaded a woman and killed two other people in a suspected terrorist attack at a church in the French city of Nice on Thursday, police and officials said.

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 and that police had detained the attacker.

Mr. Estrosi said the attacker had shouted the phrase “Allahu Akbar”, or 'God is greatest'.

One of the people killed inside the church was believed to be the church warden, Mr. Estrosi said. The attacker kept shouting “Allahu Akbar” even after he had been detained, he added. “The suspected knife attacker was shot by police while being detained, he is on his way to hospital, he is alive,” Mr. Estrosi told reporters.

“Enough is enough,” Mr. 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”.

Security alert raised to highest level

France has raised the security alert for French territory to the highest level after the knife attack, Prime Minister Jean Castex said.

Mr. Castex also told French National Assembly that the government's response to the attack would be firm and implacable.

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.

Mr. 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, referring to a French teacher beheaded earlier this month in an attack in a suburb of Paris. Mr. Estrosi said a woman had tried to escape from inside the church and had fled into a bar opposite the building.

Terrorism suspected

The French anti-terrorist prosecutor's department said it had been asked to investigate the attack.

Reuters journalists at the scene said police armed with automatic weapons had put up a security cordon around the church, which is on Nice's Jean Medecin avenue, the city's main shopping thoroughfare. Ambulances and fire service vehicles were also at the scene.

The attack comes while France is still reeling from the beheading earlier this month of French middle school teacher Paty by a man of Chechen origin.

The attacker had said he wanted to punish Paty for showing pupils cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad in a civics lesson.

It was not immediately clear if Thursday's attack was connected to the cartoons, which Muslims consider to be blasphemous.

Since Paty's killing, French officials — backed by many ordinary citizens — have re-asserted the right to display the cartoons, and the images have been widely displayed at marches in solidarity with the killed teacher.

That has prompted an outpouring of anger in parts of the Muslim world, with some governments accusing French leader Emmanuel Macron of pursuing an anti-Islam agenda.

'Britain stands steadfast with France'

Meanwhile, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the country stood steadfast with France.

“I am appalled to hear the news from Nice this morning of a barbaric attack at the Notre-Dame Basilica,” Mr. Johnson said on Twitter in both English and French.

“Our thoughts are with the victims and their families, and the U.K. stands steadfastly with France against terror and intolerance.”

https://www.thehindu.com/news/international/three-dead-in-knife-attack-in-french-church/article32971229.ece

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Killings In Nice, France: The Attack Comes While France Is Still Reeling From The Beheading Of French Teacher Samuel Paty By A Man Of Chechen Origin

By: Express Web Desk | New Delhi |

October 29, 2020

France: Two dead in knife attack in Nice church, official says terrorism suspected

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. (Christian Estrosi/Twitter)

France’s Prime Minister Jean Castex said the country’s threat level will be raised to its maximum after an attack near a church killed three people Thursday in Nice. The city’s mayor described the incident as terrorism.

City Mayor Christian Estrosi stated on Twitter that the knife attack had happened in or near the city’s Notre Dame church and that the French authorities had detained the attacker. A police source informed Reuters that a woman was decapitated.

Meanwhile in another incident of stabbing in Saudi Arabia,  a Saudi man was arrested in Jeddah after attacking a guard with a “sharp tool” at the French consulate on Thursday, Reuters quoted Saudi state TV as saying.

The two attacks come 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.

29 OCT 2020

French prime minister raises attack alert to 'emergency' after church killings in Nice

France's prime minister Jean Castex says the country's threat level will be raised to its maximum after an attack near a church killed three people Thursday in Nice.

The move comes just hours before the country was going into its second coronavirus lockdown.

An attacker armed with a knife killed three people at a church Thursday in the Mediterranean city of Nice, French authorities said.

It was the third attack in two months in France amid a growing furor over caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad that were re-published by the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo.

Other confrontations and attacks were reported Thursday in the southern city of Avignon and in the Saudi city of Jiddah, but it was not immediately clear if they were linked to the attack in Nice. Sounds of explosions could be heard as sappers exploded suspicious objects. (AP)

17:52 (IST)

29 OCT 2020

British PM Boris Johnson expresses solidarity with France

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson took to Twitter to express his country's solidarity with the French people. "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," stated Johnson.

17:14 (IST)

29 OCT 2020

French President Emmanuel Macron to visit Nice

French President Emmanuel Macron will travel to Nice  after participating in a crisis meeting at the Interior Ministry, the Elysee Palace has said. The country's Prime Minister Jean Castex led lawmakers in a moment of silence at the National Assembly on Thursday morning  news of the incident broke.

17:11 (IST)

29 OCT 2020

Suspected knife attacker was shot at by police while being detained, on way to hospital: French Mayor

Nice’s mayor, Christian Estrosi, who described the attack as terrorism, said on Twitter it had happened in or near Notre Dame church, the largest in the city. 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 church warden, Estrosi said, adding that a woman had tried to escape from inside the church and had fled into a bar opposite the 19th century neo-Gothic building.

“The suspected knife attacker was shot by police while being detained, he is on his way to hospital, he is alive,” Estrosi told reporters ...Enough is enough... 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.”

16:53 (IST)

29 OCT 2020

Saudi man arrested after injuring guard in attack at French consulate in Jeddah

A Saudi man was arrested in Jeddah after attacking a guard with a “sharp tool” at the French consulate on Thursday, Reuters quoted Saudi state TV as saying.

This development comes hours after a woman was beheaded by an attacker with a knife who also killed two other people at a church in the French city of Nice on Thursday, in an incident the city’s mayor described as terrorism. READ MORE

People step on a poster of French President Emmanuel Macron as they arrive to a rally marking the birthday of Prophet Muhammad in Sanaa, Yemen October 29, 2020. REUTERS/Khaled Abdullah

Reuters journalists at the scene said police armed with automatic weapons had put up a security cordon around the church, which is on Nice’s Jean Medecin avenue, the city’s main shopping thoroughfare. Ambulances and fire service vehicles were also at the scene. It was not immediately clear what the motive was for the Nice attack, or if there was any connection to the cartoons.

Since Paty’s killing, French officials - backed by many ordinary citizens - have re-asserted the right to display the cartoons, and the images have been widely displayed at marches in solidarity with the killed teacher.

That has prompted an outpouring of anger in parts of the Muslim world, with some governments accusing French leader Emmanuel Macron of pursuing an anti-Islam agenda.

(Inputs from Reuters)

https://indianexpress.com/article/world/france-knife-attack-live-updates-nice-church-terrorism-6908544/

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Man Arrested In Saudi Arabia After Alleged Knife Attack At French Consulate

Michael Safi

29 Oct 2020

Saudi Arabian police have arrested a man outside the French consulate in Jeddah after he allegedly stabbed a guard, amid heightened anti-France sentiment across the Muslim world and apparent terrorist attacks in two French cities.

The Saudi national used a “sharp tool” to injure the guard, who is receiving treatment in hospital, the Saudi Press Agency said.

The attack was reported within hours of the killing of three people and injuring of several others in a church in Nice, and the shooting of a man who allegedly attacked police officers in Avignon. There is not yet an indication the incidents are coordinated.

The French embassy in Riyadh released a statement confirming the incident. “The French consulate general in Jeddah this morning was subjected to a knife stabbing incident targeting a security guard – an employee of a private security company – and immediately the Saudi security forces arrested the perpetrator,” it said. “The security guard was taken to a hospital, and his health condition remains stable.

“The embassy of France strongly condemns this vicious attack against a diplomatic facility,” the statement read, adding that the embassy “affirms its full support for the victim and expresses its confidence in the Saudi authorities to uncover the circumstances of the accident and ensure the security of French facilities and the French community in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia”.

Anti-French sentiment has been high across many Muslim countries this week owing to the French president Emmanuel Macron’s perceived attacks on French Muslims and support for the right to caricature the prophet Muhammad.

Leaders of several Muslim-majority nations, state-affiliated and independent media outlets, and clerical establishments in several countries have called for boycotts against French products, and Paris issued a security warning for its citizens earlier this week.

Tensions have been stoked by several incidents in the past month including the re-publication of cartoons depicting the prophet Muhammad by the French satirical outlet Charlie Hebdo on the eve of a trial for alleged accomplices of the terrorists who attacked the magazine’s offices in 2015 as revenge for publishing the same images.

Macron also made a landmark speech in early October calling for the reform of French Islam and saying the religion was “in crisis” in many parts of the world. He acknowledge the pain caused by French colonialism in north Africa, but the speech was poorly received in the Muslim world.

Tensions have sharply increased in the past fortnight after a young man of Chechen origin beheaded the teacher Samuel Paty, who had shown the Muhammad drawings to his classroom.

The French president responded to the incident by posthumously awarding Paty the country’s highest honours and redoubling his campaign against what he calls “Islamist separatism”. He also defended the right of French citizens to freely express themselves including through cartooning.

There have been protests against France this week in Baghdad and Dhaka, and France’s top diplomat in Tehran was summoned by Iranian authorities to lodge a protest against Macron’s conduct.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/oct/29/man-arrested-in-saudi-arabia-after-alleged-knife-attack-at-french-consulate

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URL:  https://newageislam.com/radical-islamism-jihad/terrorism-nice,-france-suspect-kept/d/123304

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