INTERNATIONAL DESK: At least three people have been killed in the French coastal city of Nice during a knife attack the local mayor described as a “terrorist” incident.
The killings happened at 9am on Thursday morning inside the Notre-Dame basilica in the city centre. There were unconfirmed reports in the French media that at least one of the victims had been beheaded.
Mayor Christian Estrosi said the attacker was shot by police, but is still alive and has been taken into custody.
“I am on the scene with the police who arrested the attacker. Everything points to a terrorist attack,” Estrosi said on Twitter Thursday morning.
Estrosi said: “We have two people killed inside the church … and a third person who was in a bar facing the church where she had taken refuge. Enough is enough … we have to remove this Islamo-fascism from our territory.”
Police described the scene as a “vision of horror”.