The assailant who killed three people outside a church in the southern French city of Nice on Thursday has been identified as a 21-year-old immigrant from Tunisia, AFP reported citing sources close to the investigation. 

Identified as Brahim Aoussaoui, the suspect arrived on the Italian island of Lampedusa in late September and was placed under COVID-19 quarantine before being ordered to quit Italian territory. 

He arrived in France in early October. 

Earlier today, the body of a victim, whose throat was slit in an apparent beheading attempt, along with the body of a man was found inside Nice’s Basilica of Notre-Dame, the sources said. 

Another woman succumbed to her injuries as she sought refuge in a nearby bar. 

At 3:00 pm, churches across France sounded the death knells, the traditional bell tolling to mark a death as the government raised the country’s terror alert level to maximum in light of a surge in communal violence. 

Police later arrested an Afghan national in Lyon, who was found to be in possession of a 30-centimetre (12-inch) knife before boarding a tram.  

President Emmanuel arrived in Nice shortly after and condemned the attack while announcing an increased surveillance of French churches by the Sentinelle military patrols, which he said will be bolstered from 3,000 to 7,000 personnel. 

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A waiter at the Grand Cafe de Lyon, a block away from the church, told AFP that “shots were fired and everybody took off running” shortly before 9 am. 

“A woman came in straight from the church and said, ‘Run, run, someone has been stabbing people,” he said. 

French anti-terror prosectors have taken over the investigation of the case. 

The attack has been condemned by a host of nations, including a number of Muslim-majority nations, which have had a recent meltdown of relations with France since the killing of a school teacher in Paris for showing cartoons on the Prophet Mohammed in class. 

A number of Arab nations have witnessed demonstrations against France and have imposed a boycott on French products as Macron continues to defend the right to mock religions.