Terror Level Raised to Maximum in Southern France Day After Attack in Nice

PARIS (Sputnik) — The southern French department of Alpes-Maritimes was placed on maximum terrorist alert the day after three patrolmen had been stabbed and wounded in Nice, French Prime Minister Manue Valls announced Wednesday.

"With regards to the particular situation that the city of Nice has just experienced, I have decided to increase the threat level… to "attack alert" in order to ensure all the services are ready," Valls said, addressing the National Assembly, France's lower house of parliament.

On Tuesday afternoon, a knife-wielding attacker approached three soldiers on anti-terrorist patrol near a Jewish community center in Nice, stabbing one in the cheek and another in the arm.

During the course of his arrest, the assailant claimed to be named Coulibaly. The last name matches that of a terrorist that took hostages in a kosher food shop near Paris that claimed four lives last month. That same killer who had pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group also killed a police officer the previous day.

Counter-terrorism measures have been stepped up in France after a series of terrorist attacks hit the Paris region in early January. Suspected Islamic extremists born in France killed a total of 17 people in three incidents that took place three days in a row starting January 7.

Earlier on Tuesday, French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve announced the arrest of eight suspects near Paris and Lyon for their alleged role in recruiting citizens to join jihadist fighters in Syria.

According to Valls' remarks last month, some 1,400 people living in France are "involved in the departures for jihad" to join fighting in the Middle East.