At least 30 of the 84 victims killed in the attack last Thursday in Nice were Muslim, according to a report published in the French Catholic daily La Croix.
The report has revealed that 20 of those killed were of Tunisian nationality, the same as the truck driver Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel, who carried out the attack during the Bastille Day celebrations, Efe news reported.
Speaking to the newspaper, the imam of the city and president of the Union of Muslims of the Alpes-Maritimes, Otmane Aissaoui, confirmed the death toll of the Muslim community.
The Muslim Victims of the Attack
One of the victims Bouhlel left behind was Fatima Charrihi, a 62-year-old Moroccan and mother of 7 children, a frequent worshipper at the Rahma Mosque in Nice, where Aissaoui is a preacher.
Fatima Charrihi’s son told French news media that she was a devout Muslim.
She wore the veil but practiced a true Islam, not the terrorist version.Hamza Charrihi to the newspaper L’Express
He said he believes she may have been the first to die in the attack, struck down as she walked on the promenade with some nieces and nephews. He said another son performed CPR on her, but the mother of seven died on the pavement.
The son showed French media a residency card belonging to his mother, but her nationality wasn’t immediately clear.
Among the other Muslim victims were children, such as Mehdi, 12, whose twin sister is still in a coma, or Kylian, 4, who came from Lyon with her mother Olfa to attend the fireworks show.
Faced with possible reactions of hatred in neighbourhoods and schools, Aissaoui said that to defend coexistence against isolation it must be remembered that these people died together, regardless of their religion.
(With IANS Inputs)
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