A man covered with a towel is apprehended by French police as the investigation continues two days after an attack by the driver of a heavy truck who ran into a crowd on Bastille Day killing scores and injuring as many on the Promenade des Anglais, in Nice, France, July 16, 2016.
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As the promenade re-opened and Nice struggled to come to terms with the horror of the attack, police had questioned hundreds of people who knew the Tunisian, said the investigative source, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The perpetrator was acting in response to the group’s call for attacks on citizens of countries taking part in an worldwide coalition fighting IS in its Iraqi and Syrian territories, the statements said.
Meanwhile, French officials said Saturday they detained five people as they investigated the Nice attack.
People who went to the same gym as Lahouaiej-Bouhlel – where he did salsa dancing and lifted weights – described him as “conceited” and someone who “would flirt with anything that moved”.
Former neighbours and relatives there expressed shock at the Nice attack, describing Bouhlel as sporty, uninterested in religion and from a regular family.
Mr Cazeneuve said he had already called up 12,000 police reservists but wanted more to enlist.
Bouhlel is the hardest sort of killer to detect, because they have no contact with others and give no indications of their plans, said Matthew Henman, head of IHS Jane’s Terrorism and Insurgency Center.
Bouhlel had a criminal record but was not known to intelligence services.
The Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for the attack, but it’s unclear whether Bouhlel had concrete links to the group.
French authorities said they were checking the claim.
The attack plunged France into new grief and fear just eight months after gunmen killed 130 people in Paris.
After excelling academically, Bouhlel had drifted away from school, Hamouda said.
His court-appointed lawyer, Corentin Delobel, said he observed “no radicalization whatsoever” of Bouhlel and Paris prosecutor Francois Molins said Bouhlel was never placed on a watch list for radicals.
Two replica assault rifles and a dummy grenade were also found in the truck, which he rented a few days earlier and used for reconnaissance on the seafront on the two consecutive days before the attack.
And counterterrorism officials have expressed concern that despite USA -led coalition gains against the group in Iraq and Syria, which have prompted a loss of Islamic State’s control over their territory and resources, the group will launch more attacks in Europe and potentially, the United States.
“It seems he was radicalized very quickly”, Cazeneuve said following a ministerial meeting at the Elysee Palace in Paris. He adds that “police have not yet released details on the identities of the others taken into custody”, and “investigators are trying to establish if the driver acted alone or if he had support”.
No terrorist group has claimed responsibility for the attack in Nice, but officials have said the country must face the consistent threat of terror. They were made in two different areas of Nice.
Mohamed Bouhlel, 31, drove a truck through a crowd yesterday killing 84 people.
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Many are also angry at French police and authorities for not preventing the deadly attack, even though France was under a state of emergency imposed after Islamic State attacks a year ago in Paris.
