French Prosecutors Say Knife Attack At Nice Was Terrorism

French anti-terrorism prosecutors are investigating a knife attack at a church in the Mediterranean city of Nice that killed at least two people and wounded several others at a time when French authorities are on high alert for extremist violence.

The assailant, according to a report on CBS News, was arrested shortly after the Thursday morning attack at Nice’s 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 authorities aren’t searching for other assailants, the official said. She wasn’t authorized to be publicly named.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!” (God is greatest) repeatedly as police apprehended him and that “the meaning of his gesture left no doubt,” Reuters reported.
Speaking to reporters in Nice, Estrosi said the suspect kept repeating the phrase even while under medication, French news agency Agence France-Presse reported, and that two people were killed inside the church, while a third person who escaped to a nearby bar was in critical condition.Estrosi told French broadcaster BFM TV that one of the people who was killed in the church, a woman, was beheaded.Images on French media showed the neighborhood locked down and surrounded by police and emergency vehicles. Sounds of explosions could be heard as sappers blew up suspicious objects.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.The lower house of parliament suspended a debate on new virus restrictions and held a moment of silence Thursday for the victims. The prime minister rushed from the hall to head to a crisis center overseeing the aftermath of the attack.