The Nice attack was the third major terror attack in France 18 months and has led to widespread criticism of the government’s failure to tighten security.
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In a press conference, the revelation by Paris prosecutor Francois Molins made clear that the attack on Bastille Day was the result of a terrorist organization and that the five suspects now in custody are directly linked to the attack.
The suspects include French-Tunisian national Ramzi A., 22, Tunisian nationals Chokri C., 37, and Mohamed Oualid G., 40, Albanian national Artan H., 38, and his French-Albanian wife Enkeledja Z. French intelligence services had no knowledge of any of the suspects.
Ramzi had previous convictions for drugs and petty crime. One of the men walked around the target area with Bouhlel before the attack, and another stuck around afterward, recording video and taking photographs of the investigators at work, Molins said.
Molins said photos on Bouhlel’s phone showed he had likely already staked out the same July 14 event in 2015.
The Islamic State extremist group has claimed responsibility for the attack, though authorities have said they had not found signs that the extremist group directed it.
The probe, which involves more than 400 investigators, confirmed the attack was premediated, the prosecutor said. Telephone records were used to link the five suspects to the killer, and allegedly to support roles in the carnage.
The message read: “I am not Charlie. They have brought in the soldiers of Allah to finish the job”.
On April 4, Tunisian Chokri C., sent Bouhlel a Facebook message reading: “Load the truck with 2,000 tons of iron. release the brakes my friend and I will watch”.
Surveillance footage revealed the man had made reconnaissance trips to the Promenade des Anglais beachfront where he would eventually carry out the attack.
In July 2015 he took photos of the crowd at the Bastille Day fireworks display, as well as another crowd watching a concert on Nice’s Promenade Des Anglais three days later.
The aftermath of the Nice attack has seen France being torn apart, with finger-pointing and accusations that security was wanting despite the state of emergency that has been in place since the Paris attacks last November. The French authorities declared a three-day national mourning for the terrorist attack victims and took measures to beef up security in the country.
Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve’s clarification comes after a newspaper accused French authorities of lacking transparency in their handling of the massacre.
The truck riddled with bullets that was driven by a man through a crowd celebrating Bastille Day being towed away by breakdown lorry in the French Riviera city of Nice, July 15, 2016.
Stressing the global nature of the fight against IS, Hollande said, “Even if was France that was attacked July 14, it’s the world that was targeted”.
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Hollande said he decided at an emergency security meeting Friday to send artillery equipment to Iraq next month as part of increased military help to fight IS.
