It said that Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel “carried out the operation in response to calls to target nationals of states fighting Islamic State”.
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The government is scrambling to reassure a jittery population after the country’s third major attack in 18 months killed 84 people out celebrating Bastille Day.
The attack came on Thursday in Nice as locals and tourists celebrated Bastille Day.
All 84 people killed in the Nice truck attack have been formally identified, and the death toll for the Bastille Day carnage has not increased despite several people being still in critical condition, a top French official said Wednesday.
The probe, which involves more than 400 investigators, confirmed the attack was premediated, the prosecutor said.
Four men and one woman aged between 22 and 40 are due to appear before the court for links to Tunisian Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel who ploughed a truck into the crowded promenade in Nice.
The message was dated three days after the January 2015 massacre at Charlie Hebdo, the satirical publication in Paris, and referred to the worldwide phrase of solidarity for the victims “I’m Charlie”.
Molins said that Bouhlel had in the days and two weeks prior to the July 14 attack sought to raise money through a bank loan, which was denied, a cash withdrawal and the sale of his auto. According to reports, Studiocanal which is the production and distribution company responsible for the movie has made a decision to pull out the ads for the movie as a sign of respect for the victims and casualties from the Nice attack.
French authorities have yet to produce evidence that he had turned to radical Islam. Nevertheless, Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said Bouhlel may have undergone a rapid change.
President Francois Hollande said the conclusions of that investigation will be known next week.
“There’s no room for polemics, there’s only room for transparency”, he said.
The National Assembly, meanwhile, extended France’s state of emergency for six more months.
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On Thursday, the Liberation newspaper reported that the place where Bouhlel had entered the Nice promenade at the beginning of his deadly rampage had only been guarded by one municipal police auto. The security measure had been in place since the November 13 Paris attacks that killed 130 victims and were claimed by the Islamic State group.
