Although the Islamist extremist group “Islamic State” (IS) has claimed reponsibility for the attack, calling Bouhlel one of its “soldiers”, it remains unclear to what extent he had links to it or any other Islamist group, or whether the attack had any sort of religious extremist motivation. Amaq Agency, a news agency linked to IS, said: “He did the attack in response to calls to target the citizens of the coalition that is fighting the Islamic State”.
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The uncle of the truck driver who killed 84 people on the French Riviera says his nephew was indoctrinated about two weeks ago by an Algerian member of the Islamic State group in Nice.
The suspect’s brother, interviewed on Tunisian radio Al Jawhara FM, said that to his knowledge Mohamed was not a practicing Muslim.
The Paris prosecutor’s office said Saturday that five people are in custody following the attack. At least 10 of Bouhlel’s victims were children; a few were there to see fireworks for the first time.
A spokeswoman for the Nice paediatric hospital said 16 bodies had not yet been identified.
Dr. Raj Persaud, a consultant psychiatrist and professor at London’s Gresham College, said Bouhlel’s path toward violent extremism might have been longer than people around him noticed.
This particular heritage is remembered in the name of the city’s most famous spot, the Promenade des Anglais – French for “Walkway of the English”.
‘I have called everywhere, police stations, hospitals, Facebook and I can’t find my son.
Tourists and locals walked solemnly among the roses, candles, teddy bears and notes of grief and sympathy that had been placed where the dead lay less than 48 hours earlier – their blood still visible on the pavement.
He also confirmed the attack was “premeditated”.
A French parliamentary inquiry last week criticised numerous failings by the intelligence services over the Paris attacks. Along with Paris and Lyon, it has become one of the main recruiting grounds for jihadis who have left France to fight in Syria.
Far-right National Front leader Marine Le Pen accused successive governments of the left and right of “grave mistakes” for “continuing to allow so many foreigners into France”.
He said police cars were unable to follow the truck onto the seaside walkway after it had “violently forced through the barriers” and onto the sidewalk.
Valls said the “disgraceful” display reflected the “attitude of a minority” in the city, which is run by the opposition Republicans party.
Driver Mohamed Lahouiaej Bouhlel sped his truck through the crowd, aiming to kill.
“Each time he had a crisis, we took him to the doctor, who gave him medication”, Mohamed Mondher Lagouaiej Bouhlel said.
Bouhlel, who was in the middle of a divorce, was shot by police after driving more than a mile on Nice’s coastal promenade, where he wounded more than 200 as he also shot at those gathered as he drove at them.
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Lahouaiej-Bouhlel’s father said he had suffered from depression and had “no links” to religion.
