Leaders of UK, US and Middle East express solidarity with France as soldiers deploy to guard schools and churches
Leaders around the world have offered condolences and expressed solidarity with the French people after the country suffered a second suspected Islamist extremist attack on its soil in two weeks
President Emmanuel Macron said France was « under attack » following the killings inside Notre-Dame Basilica in the coastal city of Nice on Thursday which left three worshipers dead, but he swore that the French « would not give in to all terror » in the fight against intolerance
As the government raised the terrorist alert level to the maximum « emergency » level across the country and soldiers were deployed to guard schools and churches in France, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is said to be dismayed to learn of the « barbaric attack »
« Our hearts go out to the victims and their families, and the UK strongly supports France against terrorism and intolerance »
Pope Francis said he mourned the attack « which sowed death in a place of prayer and consolation »
« I pray for the victims, for their families and for the beloved French people, so that they respond to evil with good »
US President Donald Trump said: « America stands alongside our oldest ally in this fight » Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison has also spoken out in favor of France
The condemnation also came from leaders in the Middle East, Arab and Islamic, who drew a clear distinction between their religion and the acts of violence that claimed to defend it Turkey, which is entangled with France for the publication of cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad which sparked a wave of attacks against the French, was among the first to respond to the attack
« We strongly condemn the attack committed today inside the Notre-Dame church in Nice », said a statement from the Turkish Foreign Ministry
The Egyptian Foreign Ministry said it « stands as a government and a people France in the fight against this heinous incident » Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said that « peace cannot be obtained by a horrible provocation ”
Thursday’s suspected attacker, a 21-year-old Tunisian named Brahim Aouissaoui, who entered Europe through Italy and traveled to Paris in early October, was shot dead by police and arrested inside from the church
Aouissaoui reportedly entered the basilica just before 8:30 am Thursday with three knives and a copy of the Koran in a bag The attack lasted 28 minutes and left two dead and a third fatally injured
The oldest victim was a 60-year-old woman who had been in the basilica praying for not long after it opened that morning
France’s counterterrorism prosecutor Jean-François Ricard said she had had her throat slit « to the point of being almost beheaded »
Loqués was a devout Catholic and had been sacristan at the basilica where he prepared the sacraments and the altar for Mass for 10 years His role was also to welcome visitors and faithful to the basilica when it opened each morning
The third victim was Simone Barreto Silva, 44, mother of three, named Simone Barreto Silva, stabbed several times inside the basilica
Severely injured, she managed to flee the church before collapsing in a nearby bar. She told those caring for her: « Tell my children that I love them » before she died at the scene
Officers who were the first on the scene shot the killer multiple times after he allegedly refused to drop the knife, injuring his shoulder By 910 a.m., the attacker had been « neutralized » French officials praised the police for swift action to prevent further bloodshed
Aouissaoui reportedly entered France from Italy Investigators established that he was registered in Lampedusa, Italy on September 20 and was in the Italian Adriatic port of Bari on October 9
He did not carry any identity document apart from an Italian Red Cross document
Ricard declared that the man had been captured by CCTV cameras at the Nice train station at 6:47 a.m. “He changed his jacket and his shoes He then walked 400m to the Notre-Dame basilica. entered at 829h ”, declared the prosecutor
After worshipers fleeing the church sounded the alarm, four city policemen entered the church at 8:57 a.m.
The attacker advanced towards the officers « threateningly, shouting Allahu Akbar, forcing them first to use an electric pulse pistol and then to fire their service weapon several times, » the official said. attorney Fourteen bullet casings were found on the ground
Thursday’s attack came 13 days after an 18-year-old man beheaded Samuel Paty, 47, a history teacher, outside his high school in northeast Paris The teacher had shown caricatures of students, including one of the Prophet Muhammad published in the satirical journal Charlie Hebdo, during a discussion on freedom of expression
Macron vowed after Paty’s murder to crack down on Islamist extremism, including shutting down mosques and other organizations accused of fomenting radicalism and violence
His comments sparked anger across the Muslim world and calls for a boycott of French products
Having flown to Nice after the attacks and visiting the basilica, Macron was grim but provocative in his response on Thursday
« It is France which is under attack », declared the president « Three of our compatriots died at the basilica of Nice today and at the same time a French consular site was attacked in Saudi Arabia
“I want above all to express the nation’s support for Catholics in France and elsewhere… We are at their side so that religion can be exercised freely in our country People can believe or not believe, all religions can be practiced, but today the nation stands alongside our fellow Catholics
« My second message is for to the Nice people who have already suffered from Islamist terrorist madness This is the third time that terrorism has struck your city and you have the support and solidarity of the nation
“If we have been attacked again, it is because of our values, our taste for freedom; the freedom to believe freely and not to give in to any terror We will not give in to anything Today, we have strengthened our security to face the terrorist threat «
Macron said the French army was mobilized to protect all places of worship, especially Catholic churches, for the religious holiday of All Saints on Sunday The number of soldiers on the streets will increase from 3,000 to 7,000 and soldiers will be deployed outside schools for the return to class on Monday
France’s security alert raised to its highest level, warning of an imminent attack, or immediately after an attack The high alert allows authorities to increase checks, deploy more police and carry out more systematic searches at stations and airports
France, terrorism, attack, Emmanuel Macron
News from the world – AU – World leaders condemn Nice attack as France’s terrorist alert level is raised to the maximum
