New arrest by French investigators probing church attack in Nice

Flowers, messages and candles lie in front of the Notre Dame church, in Nice, France (Daniel Cole/PA)

A new suspect is in custody in the investigation into a gruesome attack by a Tunisian man who killed three people in a French church, as France heightened its security alert amid religious and geopolitical tensions around cartoons mocking the Muslim prophet.

The suspect is a 47-year-old man believed to have been in contact with the attacker the night before the attack on the Notre Dame Basilica in the Riviera city of Nice, according to a judicial official.