Italy In No Way Responsible For Nice's Knifeman Who Came To France Via Lampedusa -Minister

ROME (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 30th October, 2020) The Italian Interior Ministry is not responsible for the attack in Nice, which was perpetrated by a Tunisian man who came to France via Italy's Lampedusa, Italian Interior Minister Luciana Lamorgese said on Friday.

The attacker, Brahim Aoussaoui, arrived from Tunisia on the Italian island of Lampedusa in September along with other migrants. The political opposition has accused the current Italian government of weakening the country's security by amending the decrees related to migration policy, which let an attacker get to Nice.

"There is no responsibility of the government," the minister told local Italian news agencies RaiNews24 and SkyTg24.

Lamorgese added that this was an attack on Europe, to which Italy is the gateway.

Confirming that the Tunisian did indeed arrive in Italy on September 20, Lamorgese indicated that on October 9, he was ordered to leave the country.

"There were no warnings about him either from the Tunisian authorities or through the special services," she said.

On Thursday morning, a 21-year-old Tunisian man stabbed dead three people in the Notre-Dame church in the southern city of Nice. The attacker was promptly seized by police and taken to the hospital due to injures received during his arrest. The assault was followed by another two acts of violence on the same day, namely, a knife-stabbing attempt in the French city of Avignon and another near the French Consulate in Saudi Arabia. The incidents came amid nationwide dismay over the Islamic threat after the brutal killing of French history teacher Samuel Paty at the hands of a radicalized teen on October 16.