France 'will not give into terrorism' says Macron, after three stabbed to death in church attack
By Barbara Wojazer and Zamira Rahim, CNN
Updated 1852 GMT (0252 HKT) October 29, 2020
https://edition.cnn.com/2020/10/29/europe/france-nice-stabbing-attack-intl/index...Brahim Aouissaoui, born in 1999, was identified as the suspected attacker by police. Aouissaoui first arrived in Europe on the southern Italian island of Lampedusa, a source in the Italian interior ministry told CNN.
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," the mayor said on Twitter Thursday morning.
The attacker kept repeating the words
"Allahu Akbar" -- Arabic for "God is greater" -- while being treated by medics, Estrosi said.
"There is no doubt that the perpetrator of the attack... what his intentions were," he added.
France's Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin chaired a crisis meeting at the ministry in response to the attack. French President Emmanuel Macron arrived in Nice with Darmanin on Thursday afternoon, following the meeting.
Macron's office said he would meet security personnel and rescue teams at the scene, as well as with Estrosi and local lawmakers.
French Prime Minister Jean Castex said the country's terror alert level was being raised to "emergency," in the aftermath of the attack.
The "emergency" level means the "maximum level of vigilance" is necessary in case of an imminent threat or immediately after an attack, according to a French government website.
Castex added that the government's response would be "firm, implacable, and immediate."
France's anti-terror prosecutor has taken on the investigation into the attack, a spokesperson for the prosecutor's office said.
The country has also deployed 4,000 military personnel to boost security at schools, churches and other places of worship.