omersukrugoksu/iStockBy JON HAWORTH, ABC News
(NEW YORK) — Three people are dead after a series of stabbings in a “suspected terror attack” that occurred at the Basilica of Notre-Dame de in Nice, France, at 9 a.m. local time on Thursday morning, ABC News can confirm.
“Thank you to our municipal police officers who arrested the author of a stabbing attack in the Notre Dame sector at #Nice06,” the mayor of Nice, Christian Estrosi, said in a tweet. “I ask the people of Nice to avoid the area to let the police and emergency services work.”
The suspect was arrested after the attack, according to the BBC. Authorities say he was believed to have been acting alone.
France’s Interior Minister says he has opened a “crisis cell following the events.”
A bomb disposal unit is also responding to the crime scene.
Several people are also reported to be injured but it is unclear how many and what the extent of their injuries might be.
France’s anti-terror prosecutor’s office is now taking on the case and opening an investigation on “counts of assassination in relation to a terrorist enterprise,” attempted assassination in relation to a terrorist enterprise and “terrorist association of criminals.”
Mayor Christian Estrosi said there were three victims, including two inside of the church.
“Nice has paid too much of a price, like our country in recent years,” Estrosi said in a tweet. “I call on the unity of Nice inhabitants.”
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