French authorities on Friday identified a Tunisian man as the driver of a truck that smashed into a Bastille Day crowd in Nice, killing at least 84 people, an attack that plunged the country again into grief and anger. The man, Mohamed Lahouaiej-Bouhlel, was killed by police.
Advertisement
Ciotti said identification papers were found in the truck and that investigators were trying to determine whether they were legitimate. Paris Prosecutor Francois Molins said that Bouhlel was a divorced father of three, and that his ex-wife had been taken into custody for questioning.
“Human rights are denied by fanatics and France is quite clearly their target”, Holland said early Friday morning, hours after a tractor-trailer slammed through a crowd of Bastille Day revelers on Nice’s famed Promenade des Anglais shortly after the fireworks came to an end.
US President Barack Obama says he’s been in contact with French president Francois Hollande in the wake of the tragedy.
The Paris attack in November was the bloodiest among a number in France and Belgium in the past two years.
“In contrast to these terrorists, we will win this fight by building – never giving up on diplomacy”, Obama said.
“We will not be deterred”, Obama said.
“He is totally unknown to the intelligence services, both locally and nationally”, he said.
The truck was rented on July 11, and Lahouaiej Bouhlel arrived alone by bicycle to pick it up from where it was parked.
The Islamic State in Iraq and Syria claimed responsibility for the truck attack on the French city of Nice on Saturday as French police arrested three people there in connection with the carnage that claimed the lives of at least 84 people.
A local government official said weapons and grenades were later found inside the vehicle which was made by Renault Trucks.
An investigation was opened on the charges of murder, attempted murder of public authorities, and association with terrorist organisations.
The truck involved in the Nice attack. He also promised to increase military involvement in Syria and Iraq.
France is conducting air strikes and special forces operations against Islamic State, as well as training Iraqi government and Kurdish forces.
He went on: “We can not give in to fear or turn on each other or sacrifice our way of life”.
Mr Kerry, in opening remarks at a meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, said his talks late yesterday with Russian President Vladimir Putin had been “extremely frank and very serious”.
On January 7, 2015, two Islamist gunmen stormed the headquarters of the controversial satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, killing twelve people and injuring twelve before escaping. Lord Mayor of Birmingham Cllr Carl Rice has said: “I am shocked and saddened by last night’s horrifying and sickening attack during Bastille Day celebrations in Nice”. “It’s at that moment that the police were able to neutralize this terrorist”.
Advertisement
“I know I speak for all of us when I say that these individuals and these networks are an affront to all of our humanity”, Obama said, speaking at the Diplomatic Corps Reception in the White House. She added that France’s national holiday had been hit by terror, which is “a day of pride but has now become a day of great sadness”.
