President Emmanuel Macron vowed Thursday that "France will not give up on our values" after a knife-wielding man killed three people at a church in what he called an "Islamist terrorist attack".

Macron offered condolences to the country's Catholics after the killing, and urged people of all religions to unite and not "give in to the spirit of division".

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He also announced that he will more than double number of soldiers deployed to protect against attacks to 7,000.

Macron’s announcement to increase deployments from around 3,000 currently to 7,000 came hours after the attack in the Mediterranean city left two women and a man dead at the Notre Dame basilica.

It was the third attack in two months in France that authorities have attributed to Muslim extremists, including the beheading of a teacher.

It comes during a growing furor over caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad that were republished by the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo — renewing vociferous debate in France and the Muslim world over the depictions that Muslims consider offensive but are protected by French free speech laws.

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