A French soldier stands in front of Notre-Dame church, where a knife attack took place, in Nice, France October 29, 2020. (REUTERS/Eric Gaillard/Pool)

President Emmanuel Macron said France would deploy thousands more soldiers to protect important sites such as places of worship and schools, as the country’s security alert was raised to its highest level.

The attack came just under two weeks after a middle-school teacher in a Paris suburb was beheaded by an 18-year-old attacker who was apparently incensed by the teacher showing a carton of the Prophet Mohammad in class.

Chief anti-terrorist prosecutor Jean-Francois Ricard said the suspect in Thursday’s attack was a Tunisian man born in 1999 who had arrived in Europe last month.

Tunisia’s specialised counter-militancy court spokesman told Reuters that the suspect was not listed by police there as a suspected militant.