The Islamic State group says one of its “soldiers” mowed down a crowd celebrating Bastille Day Thursday night on the promenade in Nice, France, killing at least 84 people.
Advertisement
“The investigation will establish the facts, but we know now that the killer was radicalized very quickly”, Valls said in an interview with Sunday newspaper Le Journal du Dimanche.
IS said he was following their call to target citizens of countries fighting the extremists.
Ten children were among the 84 killed, and another 202 people were injured. The official provided no details on their identities, and said five people detained previously remain in custody.
“To do that, she needs time to recover and at this stage, we don’t think media exposure is in her best interests”.
Late Monday evening, mourners formed a human chain to remove candles, flowers and other mementos honoring the victims of the attack, in which Tunisian Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel drove a truck through crowds watching fireworks.
Paris prosecutor Francois Molins said acquaintances had described him as someone who “was not a practising Muslim, ate pork, drank alcohol, took drugs and had an unbridled sex life”.
“The individual who committed this absolutely despicable, unspeakable crime was not known by the intelligence services, as he had not stood out over the past years for support of radical Islamist ideology”.
Nice’s famous Promenade des Anglais, the site of the slaughter, is gradually reopening and becoming a shrine to the dead.
But French authorities believe that something may have changed.
But the Socialists have also said they will draw the line at some of the opposition’s more controversial demands.
In his internet searches Bouhlel looked for information about the terror attack on a gay nightclub in Orlando that left 49 dead, and the Paris suburb of Magnanville – where a police couple were killed last month by a man claiming links to IS.
The killer also took a selfie in the truck moments before the murderous attack.
A psychiatrist who treated him more than a decade ago said that he had been aggressive towards his parents and had body image problems.
Prosecutors said the case was ongoing and have not confirmed whether Bouhlel was contacted by a n Algerian ISIS recruiter before he launched the attack, the Independent reports. “It (the attack) has broken families apart for nothing”.
France’s government, smarting from accusations that it did not do enough to avert last week’s deadly truck attack in Nice, urged lawmakers on Tuesday to extend a period of emergency rule that gives police greater search-and-arrest powers.
Advertisement
A special church service was being held at a Nice cathedral Sunday in honour of the victims.
