Three people are killed - with a man and woman beheaded - and several others wounded in terrorist knife rampage at a church in Nice before attacker is shot and arrested while chanting 'Allahu Akbar'
- Three killed - two of them beheaded - and several more stabbed in a terror attack inside a cathedral in Nice
- Attack began around 9am before police swarmed the area, where they shot and arrested the attacker
- Mass had just begun inside cathedral - largest Roman Catholic church in Nice - when the attack started
- Comes fortnight after teacher was beheaded near Paris; a month after stabbings near Charlie Hebdo offices
At least three people have been killed - two of them beheaded - and several others stabbed in a terrorist knife attack at a cathedral in Nice.
The attack began around 9am just as Mass at the Notre Dame basilica - the largest Roman Catholic church in Nice - was getting underway. Two of those who were killed died inside the church, French media reported.
Police quickly swarmed the area, where they shot and arrested the attacker, who has been taken to hospital. A police source said it appears he was acting alone.
Two of the dead are women, one is a man, police sources told French media. The city's mayor, Christian Estrosi, said one victim was 'a church warden, so appreciated by the parishioners'. No other details have been released.
Estrosi told reporters that the attacker 'kept shouting Allahu Akbar even after being medicated', and that 'the meaning of his gesture is not in doubt'.
'Enough is enough,' he 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.'
At least three people have been killed - two of them beheaded - and several more stabbed in a terror attack at the Notre Dame cathedral in the French city of Nice (pictured, a wounded person is taken from the scene)
Police swarmed the area around 9am, running into the cathedral before the attacker was shot and arrested. Mayor Christian Estrosi said the attacker kept shouting Allahu Akbar even after being medicated
The attack began around 9am just as Mass was getting underway at the cathedral, the largest Roman Catholic church in Nice
Police quickly swarmed the area where they shot and arrested the attacker, who has been taken to a local hospital
A security officer secures the area after a reported knife attack at Notre Dame church in Nice
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.
Estrosi said a woman had tried to escape from inside the church and had fled into a bar opposite the building.
Images on French media showed the neighborhood locked down and surrounded by police and emergency vehicles. Sounds of explosions could be heard as sappers exploded suspicious objects.
Police confirmed that the anti-terror prosecutor has been charged with carrying out the investigation on charges of murder and attempted murder.
French politicians were taking part in a debate on the country's new coronavirus restrictions when news of the attack reached them.
They observed a minute of silence before the debate broke up so an emergency security meeting could be held.
Gérald Darmanin, the French Interior Minister, confirmed that a crisis meeting had been held alongside Prime Minister Jean Castex. Emmanuel Macron chaired the meeting, and is expected in Nice shortly.
The attack is just the latest to strike France, after history teacher Samuel Paty was beheaded in another attack north of Paris.
Paty was stabbed by an 18-year-old Chechen after he showed the cartoons to his students during a lesson on free speech.
Parents of pupils at the school had led a campaign against him, before the attack took place. Seven have been arrested.
Just a few weeks earlier, an 18-year-old Pakistani stabbed a wounded two people outside the old offices of satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo.
The man has admitted to police that he was targeting the magazine for publishing cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed.
French policemen stand guard a street after a knife attack in Nice
French policemen and firefighters stand guard a street after a knife attack in Nice
The attack is thought to have begun around 9am before police were called, and arrested the perpetrator. The area is now cordoned off
Armed police approach the church where the attack is thought to have started during Mass
Armed police are seen on the streets of Nice after the attack early on Thursday
The attack took place at the Notre Dame basilica in Nice, the largest Roman Catholic church in the city
It also comes amid mass protests in many Islamic countries against Emmanuel Macron, after the French President spoke up in defence of the cartoons.
Tweeting in Arabic, he wrote: 'Nothing makes us hold back, ever. We respect all differences in the spirit of peace. We never accept hate speech and defend rational debate.
'We will always stand by human dignity and universal values.'
His remarks have prompted demonstrations in Gaza, Turkey, Pakistan and Bangladesh, and boycotts of French products in Jordan, Kuwait, Qatar and Palestinian territories.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has led outrage at Macron, suggesting that he is mentally ill and needs to have his health evaluated.
French policemen stand guard a street after a knife attack in Nice
Police officers secure the area after a reported knife attack at Notre Dame church in Nice
Police cordon off the street leading to the cathedral after the attack on Thursday
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