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German students, teacher dead in truck attack

Lahouaiej-Bouhlel’s estranged wife, who was detained on Friday, was released on Sunday.

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Meanwhile, a mosque in the eastern Nice suburb of Ariane held prayers Tuesday for three of those killed in the truck attack, including 4-year-old Kylan Mejri and his mother, Olfa Kalfallah, 31.

“When the country comes under attack, the responsibility for extending the state of emergency rests with me as the president as well as with the parliament”, the president said during a trip to Lisbon.

France is holding a three-day national period of mourning for the victims of the attack, and French president Francois Hollande has extended the state of emergency in place since the November 2015 Paris terror attacks.

Bouhlel was behind the wheel of a truck that ran down a group of revellers celebrating Bastille Day, killing at least 85 people, and injuring hundreds more.

The plate of the interphone shows the name of Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel outside the building where he lived in Nice, southern France.

Molins said acquaintances described the Tunisian as “someone who did not practise the Muslim religion, ate pork, drank alcohol, took drugs and had an unbridled sexual activity”.

It’s the possession of the mobile phone which has seen police take other people into custody in relation to the Nice terror attack.

At the Pasteur hospital, where many injured are being treated, emergency responders and other medical personnel gathered in the courtyard for the countrywide moment of silence, standing still in a row and clapping when it was over.

Seeking to explain why France is so often targeted, most recently with a truck rampage in Nice last week claimed by the Islamic State group, Hollande cited the country’s traditions of liberty and human rights.

He had no record of making militant statements and was not known to the intelligence services, the minister said.

Nevertheless, Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said Lahouaiej-Bouhlel may have undergone a rapid change.

Investigators in France have arrested seven people so far in connection with the Nice attack, according to a security official.

“The first sign that Bouhlel was planning something violent came about eight months ago, when he snapped a picture of a news story headlined: ‘Man deliberately rams auto into cafe terrace, ‘” he said.

‘We cannot ignore the fact that he was an unbalanced and very violent individual, and it seems that his psychology demonstrates these traits, ‘ said Mr Cazeneuve. The uncle, who still lives in the killer’s hometown of Msaken, Tunisia, said the ISIS operative “found in Mohamed an easy prey for recruitment”.

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Nice police department chief Adolphe Colrat, who answers to central government rather than the regional politicians who are leading the criticism, said the authorities had “at no time” lied or misled people on policing arrangements.

Rudaw inside the home of the man who killed 84 people in Nice