The Islamic State group on Saturday claimed the Tunisian man who barreled his truck into a crowd in the French resort city of Nice was a “soldier” of the group, the first claim of responsibility for an attack that has claimed 84 lives and wounded more than 200 people.
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The massacre, which comes after two major terror attacks in France in 2015, has once again shaken the country to its core, raising questions over intelligence and security failings and how to stop such unsophisticated, yet deadly, assaults.
At the meeting with the security chiefs, Mr Hollande is expected to review all options in response to the attack.
However, Prime Minister Manuel Valls said he was “in way or another” linked to radical Islam and Paris prosecutor Francois Molins said the attack bore the hallmarks of jihadist terrorism.
The language used implied that he may have acted independently and there was no evidence IS was involved in planning the atrocity.
For several years, extremist groups such as Islamic State and Al-Qaeda have exhorted followers to strike “infidels” – singling out France on several occasions – using whatever means they have at hand. “We feel secure. I am already hurt after Paris, but we must go on”, said the 37-year-old, who lost two friends in the November shootings.
In September 2014, IS spokesman Abu Mohammed al-Adnani, suggested supporters “run (infidels) over with your car”.
The new advice said: “If you’re in the area, follow the instructions of the French authorities, who have cancelled a number of public events planned for the coming days, closed the Promenade des Anglais and a number of the public beaches in and around Nice, and implemented some traffic restrictions”.
The driver’s father has said that Bouhlel had received psychiatric treatment in the past.
“We are also shocked”, he said.
An Irish man for whom there was concern following the attack has been confirmed as safe and well.
The Foreign Office on Friday night described the carnage as a “terrorist attack”, causing multiple casualties, and updated its advice for Britons in Nice.
He and his wife had three children, but she had demanded a divorce after a “violent argument”, one neighbour said.
“I turned round and I saw the truck which was crashing into the crowd and bodies flying into the air”, the Nice resident said.
Along the route of the attack there are shrines and memorials to the victims – among the tributes are teddy bears and toys, a reminder of the fact that children were among the dead.
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At least 10 children and teenagers were among the dead as well as tourists from the United States, Russia, Ukraine, Switzerland and Germany. “He didn’t talk about it, and I didn’t talk about it with him”, Mondher Lahouaiej-Bouhlel told French media from his home in Tunisia.
