French churches honor Nice attack victims; 6 detained

Churches around France held Sunday services horing three people killed in an Islamic extremist attack at tre Dame Basilica in city of Nice that pushed country into high security alert, while police questioned six suspects in case.

Nice Archbishop Andre Marceau was preparing for a special nighttime service in basilica to purify it following Thursday's fatal knife attack, and n to pay hom to victims and to mark All Saints’ Day, when many Christians around world hor de.

Priests in Saint-Sulpice Church in Paris and elsewhere in France mentioned attack during ir All Saints’ services, which were exceptionally allowed to go ahe despite a new monthlong virus lockdown that started Friday in France. Riot police or or security forces were stationed at some prominent religious sites.

Authorities have labeled church killings an act of Islamist terrorism. y took place amid global tensions around cartoons published by a French newspaper mocking Prophet Muhamm, which deeply offend Muslims. French imams and or Muslims were among many who deunced Nice attack as having thing to do with ir faith , and called for calm.

three victims were 55-year-old church warden Vincent Loques, a far of two described by parishioners and nearby merchants as “nice to everyone”; churchgoer Nine Devillers, 60; and Brazilian-born Simone Barreto Silva, 44, Brazilian media said Silva, a mor of three, moved to France to join a dance group led by her sister, worked in elder care and dreamed of traveling world in a food truck.

Investigators in France, Tunisia and Italy are trying to determine motive of chief suspect Ibrahim Issaoui, a 21-year-old Tunisian who transited through Italy last month en route to France, and wher he acted alone.

Issaoui is in critical condition in a French hospital after being wounded by police during his arrest and hasn’t yet been questioned, according to a judicial official.

Five or people were also in custody Sunday after being detained in Nice and nearby town of Grasse, official said. y are between 25 and 63-years-old and were spotted on video surveillance or detained in homes searched by police as part of investigation, said official, who was t authorized to be publicly named according to judicial policy.

ir connection to attack remains unclear. A previously unkwn Tunisian extremist group claimed responsibility for Thursday's attack. Tunisian and French authorities are investigating wher claim is legitimate.