A man with a knife killed three people in a church in the southern French city of Nice on Thursday, in what President Emmanuel Macron called the latest Islamist terror attack to afflict the country.
Mr Macron said up to 7,000 soldiers would be deployed in the coming days to protect churches for All Saints Day, as well as other religious institutions and schools. The government announced the highest level of terror alert.
“It’s France that has been attacked,” Mr Macron said in Nice. “Our country has been hit by an Islamist terror attack.” He called for national unity and said France was being targeted “for our values, for our taste for liberty. I say it clearly once again, today — we will not give any ground.”