Third man detained over deadly church attack in France’s Nice

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A third person was taken into custody in France in connection with the knife attack which left three dead in Nice on Thursday, a police source said on Saturday.

The arrest took place on Friday, the source added.

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An attacker beheaded a woman and killed two other people in a church in the city of Nice on Thursday in the second deadly knife attack in France in two weeks.

A man was shot by police and is now in critical condition in a hospital.

France’s chief anti-terrorism prosecutor has said the man suspected of carrying out the Nice attack was a Tunisian born in 1999 who had arrived in Europe on Sept. 20 in Lampedusa, the Italian island off Tunisia.

On Thursday evening a 47-year-old man was taken into custody on suspicion of having been in contact with the perpetrator of the attack, a judicial source said at the time.

A Police vehicle is parked by the Notre-Dame de l'Assomption Basilica in Nice on October 29, 2020. (AFP)
A Police vehicle is parked by the Notre-Dame de l'Assomption Basilica in Nice on October 29, 2020. (AFP)

On Friday, a 35-year old man, who is a Nice resident, and who is suspected of having met with the assailant the day before the attack, was also taken into custody, a judicial source confirmed.

The third arrest followed immediately afterwards, the police source said.

France has warned its citizens they face a security risk “everywhere” in the world in the wake of the attack inside a church in Nice that left three people dead, Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said Friday.

He said France’s highest attack risk warning had been sent to citizens abroad on Thursday evening “wherever they are, because the risk is everywhere.”

Police officers stand guard by the Notre-Dame de l'Assomption Basilica in Nice on October 29, 2020. (AFP)
Police officers stand guard by the Notre-Dame de l'Assomption Basilica in Nice on October 29, 2020. (AFP)

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