⁍ France stepped up security nationwide on Friday to guard against Islamist attacks.
⁍ President Emmanuel Macron deployed thousands of soldiers to protect sites including places of worship and schools.
⁍ The nation was at its highest level of security alert after the second deadly knife attack in its cities in two weeks.
– A man shouting “Allahu akbar” (God is greatest) decapitated a woman and killed two other people in a church in Nice, France, on Thursday before being shot and wounded by police. The Islamic State has claimed responsibility for the attack, the AP reports. According to Reuters, the 21-year-old suspect, identified only as Brahim al-Aouissaoui, arrived in France on Sept. 20 from Tunisia. He was shot and wounded by police after the attack on Notre Dame Basilica, which left a 55-year-old sexton and a 60-year-old woman dead. A 44-year-old woman who raised the alarm died after running to a nearby cafe for help. ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement early Friday. France’s chief anti-terrorism prosecutor says the suspect arrived in Nice by train on Thursday morning and made his way to the church, where he stabbed and killed the sexton. He also beheaded a 60-year-old woman and stabbed a 44-year-old woman before being shot and wounded by police. ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement early Friday. France’s interior minister says the country is in a war against “an enemy that is both inside and outside” on its soil. “We have to be vigilant, we have to be attentive,” the police chief tells Reuters. Thousands of people staged anti-French protests around the world Friday, including in Bangladesh, where protesters burned effigies of French President Emmanuel Macron. “Macron is leading Islamophobia,” a protester says.
Source: https://www.reuters.com/article/france-security/muslims-protest-across-asia-against-france-as-nice-mourns-church-attack-dead-idUSKBN27F1AI