Police forces in front of the basilica of Nice where the attack took place.

-

SYSPEO / SIPA

  • A 21-year-old Tunisian killed three people with a knife Thursday morning in the Notre-Dame basilica in Nice.

    He was neutralized by the municipal police.

    Seriously injured, he is still in the hospital.

  • The investigation continues to identify the profile and motivations of this young man who clandestinely reached Europe last September.

    A 47-year-old man, suspected of having met him the day before the incident, was taken into police custody.

  • The authorities have stepped up surveillance of places of worship, including churches, identified as potential targets in a statement from an agency close to Al-Qaida.

In the aftermath of the attack, Brahim I. is still between life and death at the Pasteur hospital in Nice.

Investigators from the DGSI and Sdat (anti-terrorism sub-directorate of the judicial police) are trying to better understand the profile of this 21-year-old Tunisian, who killed three people with a knife in a church in Nice, Thursday morning, before being neutralized by municipal police officers.

In these types of cases, members of the suspect's family are often quickly taken into police custody.

But the ten siblings and parents of the young man did not follow him on his crossing of the Mediterranean, last September, and remained in Sfax, in central Tunisia, where they live in a working-class neighborhood near of an industrial zone.

"Why don't you stay in Italy?

"

Moreover, he had not warned them, a month and a half ago, of his plan to reach Europe clandestinely.

He landed on the Italian island of Lampedusa on September 20 before joining Bari on October 9, the anti-terrorism prosecutor explained during a press conference.

Despite being ordered to leave Italian territory within seven days, he remained in the country to work in the olive harvest.

On Wednesday evening, Brahim called his mother to warn her "that he was going to arrive in France", where he did not apply for asylum.

Which surprised him.

"I asked him: why don't you stay in Italy?

You don't speak French and you don't know anyone there.

You have no bond, no relationship.

Why go to France?

», She told the press.

“He has been praying for about two and a half years.

He went from work to home, didn't go out and didn't mix with others, ”she added, in tears.

In Tunisia, he was known to the courts for cases of violence or drugs.

But he was not "identified as a terrorist", the country's authorities said.

In France, he was also unknown to the intelligence services.

Investigators are therefore trying to clarify his route to Nice and determine if he could benefit from any complicity.

Is it an isolated act?

Or has Brahim I. been guided from abroad?

While waiting for him to be able to answer their questions, the police try to make the two mobile phones found in a bag near the Basilica of Notre-Dame de l'Assomption talk.

A man in custody

They also arrested, Thursday evening in Nice, a 47-year-old man whom they placed in police custody,

a judicial source

told

20 Minutes

, confirming information from

Nice-Matin

.

They suspect this man to have been in contact with the assailant the day before the incident.

At the same time as the investigation, the Minister of the Interior asked the prefects, in a telegram he sent them Thursday evening, to "immediately strengthen surveillance around places of worship and cemeteries".

👮‍♀️👮‍♂️ Strengthening of security missions around places of worship on the territory of the @prefpolice.

The determination of the police and soldiers of Sentinel is total.

pic.twitter.com/ElU76BRxkU

- Police Prefecture (@prefpolice) October 30, 2020

A few days earlier, Gérald Darmanin had already called on them to show "increased vigilance following the threats made in a press release from the Thabat agency", close to the terrorist organization Al-Qaida.

This text "explicitly calls for actions targeting our country within the framework of individual jihad", specified the minister, stressing that "several operating modes are suggested such as attacks with a knife or the use of a ram car against the crowd ”.

Among the targets designated by this press release are "churches and symbols of Christianity".

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  • Nice

  • Terrorism

  • Society

  • Investigation

  • Police

  • Attack

  • Terrorist attack

  • Islamism

  • DGSI