Members of the elite tactical French police unit RAID enter the Basilica of Notre-Dame in Nice after a knife attack on Oct. 29. Three people were killed in the attack, police said. (Photo: AFP)
A knifeman killed at least three people and injured several others in an attack inside a Catholic church in the French city of Nice today.
There were unconfirmed reports in the French media that at least one of the victims had been beheaded inside the Basilica de Notre-Dame in the city center.
The attacker was shot and injured by police and taken to hospital.
Christian Estrosi, the city’s mayor, said the attacker had shouted “Allahu Akbar” several times while he was being restrained by police.
“Enough is enough … we have to remove this Islamo-fascism from our territory,” Estrosi said.
Police confirmed that three people had died in the attack and described the scene as a “vision of horror.”
French President Emmanuel Macron is due to travel to Nice in southern France.
The French parliament suspended a debate on new coronavirus restrictions and held a moment of silence for the victims.
The attack came as the country is under high alert for terrorist attacks following the beheading this month of French teacher Samuel Paty in Paris.
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 what the motive was for the Nice attack or if there was any connection to the cartoons, which Muslims consider to be blasphemous.