French anti-terrorism prosecutor Jean-Francois Ricard confirmed on Thursday that the attacker in Nice was from Tunisia and had arrived in France on October 9.
IMAGE: A police officer stands near Notre Dame church, where a knife attack took place, in Nice, France. Photograph: Eric Gaillard/Pool/ Reuters
Earlier, this was reported by a number of French media.
Ricard noted that the attacker had documents of the Italian Red Cross in the name of a native of Tunisia born in 1999.
“According to the information we have, he entered Italy through the island of Lampedusa on September 20.
“He then arrived in Paris on October 9, 2020,” Ricard said at a press conference on Thursday.
He said that at the moment, an investigation was ongoing in order to establish the path that the attacker took, and also to find out whether he had accomplices.
The prosecutor also added that the perpetrator of the attack was not known to intelligence agencies.
On Thursday morning, a man stabbed people at the Notre Dame church in Nice.
Three people were killed. The attacker was quickly detained.
During the arrest, he was wounded.
Nice Mayor Christian Estrosi said the attacker did not stop repeating ‘Allahu Akbar’.
The attack is being investigated by the anti-terrorism department of the prosecutor’s office.
French President Emmanuel Macron, who arrived in Nice, called the incident a terrorist attack.
He noted that measures to protect places of worship and schools would be strengthened and the number of French troops within anti-terrorist Operation Sentinelle would be increased.
