Three people was murdered in a knife attack in France, reportedly by Brahim Aioussaoi, a migrant from Tunisia.
Soon after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan targeted France in a speech, the knife attack was carried out in Notre Dame church in Nice on 29 October. Apart from three people who were killed, six others were injured. The incident occurred at around 9.00 am local time and the assailant attempted to behead people who were present in the church.
A seriously wounded woman who escaped and sheltered in a cafe across the church, later lost her life in hospital. According to Mesopotamia Agency (MA), police apprehended Aioussaoi and detained him. Aioussaoi reportedly travelled to Italy last month and then arrived in France by train. After the attacks in Nice, police stopped another knife-assault attempt in Avignon. A person who threatened people with a knife in the street was shot and killed by the police.
French president Emmanuel Macron travelled to Nice and made a statement after the attack. He said: “The attack was carried out against our values”. He stated that they would uphold their dignity. As Macron entered the church where the attack was carried out, he called for unity and solidarity. Schools and sanctuaries would be protected, he noted, and there would be an increase in the number of soldiers mobilised for the task. The numbers will increase from three to seven thousand in the context of ‘Operation Sentinel’.
It was also reported that the French National Defence Council would meet on 30 October to decide upon appropriate measures to be taken in light of the attack and threats. The Turkish Foreign Ministry also condemned the attack that was carried out in France.
What happened?
After the death of history teacher Samuel Paty on 16 October by radical Islamists on the grounds that he showed cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed that had been published in the satirical weekly Charli Hebdo, the French government had launched a number of operations against radical Islamist associations. In addition to this, cartoon images of the Muslim Prophet Mohammed had been projected onto the facades of buildings in France. Turkish Presiden Erdoğan had criticized France and called for a boycott of French products. Erdoğan had also suggested that French president Emmanuel Macron needed mental health treatment. Erdoğan had also described Europe as “fascist”.
