In yet another shocker from France, a woman was beheaded by an assailant along with killing two other at a church in the city of Nice on Thursday.

Mayor Christian Estrosi, while describing the incident as an act of terrorism, said on twitter that the knife attack happened in or near the historic Notre Dame church.

As per reports, the three people were confirmed to have died at the scene and the attacker had been detained. Several others were also injured.

The French anti-terrorist prosecutor's department had been asked to investigate the motive of the attack.

According to Reuters, police armed with automatic weapons reached the scene and had set up a perimeter around the church. Ambulances and fire services were also present.

The gruesome attack comes while France is still reeling from the beheading earlier this month of a French middle school teacher in Paris, which sent shockwaves across the country as well as around the world.

The attacker, who was of Chechen origin, had said he wanted to punish the teacher for showing cartoons of Prophet Mohammad to his students in a civics lesson.

It was not immediately clear what the motive was for the Nice attack, or if there was any connection to the cartoons, which Muslims consider to be blasphemous.

The incidents triggered anger in parts of the Muslim world, with some governments accusing French President Emmanuel Macron of pursuing anti-islamic agenda.