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Jihadist Attack in France Kills Three

Police officers at Nice's Notre Dame Basilica after Thursday's jihadist attack / Getty Images
October 29, 2020

A jihadist attack in southern France on Thursday left three dead.

A knife-wielding jihadist killed two people and fatally wounded a third at the Notre Dame Basilica in Nice, according to officials.

The killer "virtually beheaded" his first victim, an elderly woman, and cut the throat of his second, according to BBC News.

"Everything leads us to believe it was a terrorist attack within the Notre Dame basilica," Nice mayor Christian Estrosi wrote on Twitter.

Estrosi implied "Islamo-fascism" was the killer's motive and said the suspect "repeated endlessly 'Allahu Akbar.'"

The killings mark the second violent attack in France in days. Last week, another jihadist beheaded French history teacher Samuel Paty because of a classroom discussion of free speech and depictions of Muslim prophet Mohammed.

Many French citizens took to the streets to honor the memory of Paty and the Charlie Hebdo writers who were killed in 2015 for depicting Mohammed.

Following Paty's murder, French president Emmanuel Macron expelled over 200 émigrés on a terrorist watchlist.

While Macron has not mentioned a motive for the Nice attack, he said Paty's murder occurred because he "taught freedom of expression."

"They won't win," Macron said at the time, presumably referring to jihadists. "We will act."