Two People Beheaded, May Others Stabbed In Church Terrorist Knife Attack Over Prophet Mohammed Cartoon

At least three people have been killed - two of them beheaded - and several others stabbed in a terrorist knife attack at a cathedral in Nice.

scene of the crime

The attack began around 9am, according to local reports, before police swarmed the area where they shot and arrested the attacker. 

The city's mayor, Christian Estrosi, tweeted: 'I am on site with the [police] who arrested the perpetrator of the attack. 

'I confirm that everything suggests a terrorist attack in the Basilica of Notre-Dame de Nice.'

The attack is just the latest to strike France, after an 18-year-old Pakistani stabbed a wounded two people outside the old offices of satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo.

The man has admitted to police that he was targeting the magazine for publishing cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed.

Earlier this month a French history teacher, Samuel Paty, was beheaded in another attack north of Paris - also over cartoons of the Prophet.

Paty was stabbed by an 18-year-old Chechen after he showed the cartoons to his students during a lesson on free speech.

Parents of pupils at the school had led a campaign against him, before the attack took place. Seven have been arrested. 

It also comes amid mass protests in many Islamic countries against Emmanuel Macron, after the French President spoke up in defence of the cartoons. 

Tweeting in Arabic, he wrote: 'Nothing makes us hold back, ever. We respect all differences in the spirit of peace. We never accept hate speech and defend rational debate. 

His remarks have prompted demonstrations in Gaza, Turkey, Pakistan and Bangladesh, and boycotts of French products in Jordan, Kuwait, Qatar and Palestinian territories.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has led outrage at Macron, suggesting that he is mentally ill and needs to have his health evaluated.