JUST months before an apparent attack in Nice, France’s most senior security chief delivered a chilling warning.

Patrick Calvar, head of the General Directorate for Internal Security, reportedly told a closed parliamentary commission in May that just one more major Islamist terror attack could lead to a right-wing backlash, and a confrontation between the extreme right and Muslims in France.

“We are on the brink of a civil war,” Mr Calvar reportedly said, according to French newspaper Le Figaro, noting that the clash could present a bigger threat than the terrorism itself.

Anti-Muslim sentiment appears to be on the rise in France and other areas of Europe where there has been an influx of refugees from Syria and a number of terrorist attacks linked to Islamic State.

“Europe is in great danger, extremism is growing everywhere,” Mr Calvar said.

“I think this confrontation is going to happen. One or two more attacks and it will take place. It is up to us to anticipate and stop all those groups who would trigger clashes.”

Terror Attack in Nice: Eye Witness Accounts The death toll from the truck attack in the French Riviera continued to rise after a truck barreled into crowds of people celebrating Bastille Day in Nice, France. Photo: Getty Images

The dire prediction is a reminder of how delicate the situation in France has become, with relations between the two groups shaken by two previous terrorist attacks last year that killed 147 people.

In the aftermath of the attacks, Muslims condemned the actions and many others expressed solidarity with them even holding protests against anti-Islam organisations, but there have been reports of increasing violence against Muslims.

media_camera Protesters hold banners and flags during a protest against increasing Islamophobic and racist activities following deadly terrorist attacks in France. Picture: Dursun Aydemir/Anadolu Agency

media_camera Demonstrators hold a banner reading ‘do not touch my prophet’. Picture: Anthony Deperraz/Citizenside

“Today, when people see an Arab, they think that person is a terrorist”, an imam in Toulouse told the New Statesman earlier this year. “When people see a woman wearing the veil, people feel themselves attacked, and they reject her.”

The unrest now threatens to bubble over as another apparent attack took place on France’s national day, killing at least 80 people.

In this testimony, Mr Calvar also said he believed Islamic extremists would increase their capacity to kill by using booby-trapped cars and bombs.

He was one of a number of top security officials whose remarks were included in a 300-page report released on Tuesday from a parliamentary commission that examined France’s ability to fight terrorism.

According to AP, the report revealed numerous intelligence lapses that paved the way for attacks in January and November 2015 that together killed 147 people in Paris.

On Thursday, a third apparent attack took place in the southern city of Nice, when a truck ploughed through a crowd celebrating Bastille Day.

media_camera Crowds flee the scene of an attack in the French city of Nice. Source: INSTAGRAM

Mr Calvar said in his May 24 testimony that he thought extremists would evolve how they carried out attacks in France, and presumably the West, notably that they would use techniques that could kill more people — and spare the attackers.

“I’m convinced they’ll go to booby-trapped vehicles and bombs, thus upping their power,” he said. “We know very well they’re going to use this mode of operating.

“They’re going to end up sending commandos whose mission is to organise terrorist campaigns without necessarily going to the assault with death awaiting them.”

Mr Calvar also raised the possibility of extremists using “dirty bombs” and the natural poison ricin, saying several groups had studied the toxin in the past.

Mr Calvar did not elaborate on when this new approach to attacks could become an imminent threat to France or other Western targets. He noted before the commission that he could not tell all.

media_camera French secret services DGSI general director Patrick Calvar. Picture: Miguel Medina/AFP

The apparent attack in Nice is the third in less than two years that has killed more than 100 people and left hundreds more wounded.

An attack on November 13 left 130 people dead in Paris. Some of the nine militants blew themselves up near the Stade de France stadium, others opened fire on downtown cafe terraces and a third group armed with guns and suicide vests killed 90 music fans at the Bataclan rock concert hall.

It followed an attack in January last year where jihadists attacked the Charlie Hebdo magazine and a Jewish supermarket that left 17 dead.

media_camera A Muslim holds placard reading “Terrorism is not Islam. Islam is like this flower. Terrorism has no religion” during a gathering near Paris. Picture: Dominique Faget/AFP

French President Francois Hollande said in a televised statement early on Friday morning that all of France was under an “Islamist terrorist threat” and extended by three months a state of emergency that has been in place since the November attacks.

The state of emergency has been criticised, with some suggesting security forces have overstepped their bounds in carrying out raids and placing people under house arrest.

Just hours earlier Mr Hollande had announced the state of emergency would not be extended beyond July 26.

“The terrorist character (of the attack) cannot be denied,” he said.

Hollande said he was calling a defence council meeting Friday that brings together defence, interior and other key ministers, then heading to Nice.

Besides continuation of the state of emergency and the Sentinel operation with 10,000 soldiers on patrol, he said he was calling up “operational reserves,” those who have served in the past and will be brought in to help police, particularly at French borders.

“France is tearful. It is afflicted,” Mr Hollande said. “But it is strong and will always be stronger ... than the fanatics that want to strike it today.”

Originally published as France on the brink of ‘civil war’