Pakistan flays church attack in France

No justification for such acts of violence, in particular in places of worship, says Foreign Office

Pakistan has strongly condemned the attack that was carried out inside a church in French city of Nice, claiming the lives of at least three people.

French police source said a woman was decapitated. French politician Marine Le Pen also spoke of a decapitation having occurred in the attack.

"We express our condolences on the loss of precious lives and sympathies with the bereaved families," spokesperson of Foreign Office Zahid Chaudhri said in a statement.

He said that there is no justification for such acts of violence, in particular in places of worship.

The attack comes while France is still reeling from the beheading earlier this month of French middle school teacher Samuel Paty in Paris by a man of Chechen origin.

The attacker had said he wanted to punish Paty for showing pupils blasphemous cartoons in the name of “freedom of expression”. After the incident, French President Macron had targeted Islam in his comments.

It was not immediately clear what the motive was for the Nice attack, or if there was any connection to the cartoons, considered blasphemous by Muslims across the globe.

Since Paty’s killing, French officials - backed by many ordinary citizens - have re-asserted the right to display the cartoons, and the images have been widely displayed at marches in solidarity with the killed teacher.

That has prompted an outpouring of anger in parts of the Muslim world, with some governments accusing the French president of pursuing an anti-Islam agenda.