Third victim of Nice church knife attack named

World

The third victim of the Nice church attack has been named as Nadine Devillers, 60.

Mayor of Nice Christian Estrosi made the announcement on social media on Saturday morning.

The other two victims of the attack were mother-of-three Simone Barreto-Silva, 44, and church worker Vincent Loques, 55.

It came as Reuters reported a third person has been arrested in connection with the killings at the Notre Dame church.

The person being held is said to be a 35-year-old Nice resident suspected of meeting with the presumed attacker the day before the atrocity.

A police source told Reuters that the latest arrest took place on Friday.

The two previously arrested were 21-year-old suspect Brahim Aouissaoui, and a 47-year-old man who was detained on suspicion of having been in contact with Aouissaoui.

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Mourners gather at site of Nice attack

France’s president Emmanuel Macron deployed thousands of soldiers to protect sites including places of worship and schools following the attack.

Aouissaoui was reportedly unknown to security services, having arrived in Europe by boat last month.

Tensions have been rising in France around cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad which Muslims say are offensive.

The attack in Nice occurred almost two weeks after Samuel Paty – a teacher in Paris – was decapitated by an 18-year-old Chechen after showing pupils a cartoon in a lesson on freedom of expression.

French President Emmanuel Macron looks on as he speaks to the media during the visit to the scene of a knife attack at Notre Dame church in Nice, France October 29, 2020. REUTERS/Eric Gaillard/Pool
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French President Emmanuel Macron said his country will ‘not give any ground’

The row over depictions of the Prophet Muhammed has led to protests around the world in countries like Lebanon, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Somalia, with calls to boycott French products.

Following the attack, President Macron said the country had been targeted “over our values, for our taste for freedom, for the ability on our soil to have freedom of belief”.

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