French president Francois Hollande said Friday that approximately 50 people were still in critical condition, and on Saturday French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve issued orders for “increased security” throughout the country, the Associated Press reported.
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Several people, among hundreds who have been questioned, said Bouhlel showed signs of being religious, according to a judicial source.
At least 10 children were among the dead as well as tourists from the United States, Ukraine, Switzerland, Germany and about 10 people from Russia, a local Russian association said.
While the so-called Islamic State (IS) group claimed the attack, Lahouaiej-Bouhlel may not necessarily have coordinated it with a larger network, Mr Cazeneuve said.
“That last day he said he was in Nice with his European friends to celebrate the national holiday”, Jabeur said.
French authorities have yet to produce evidence that he had turned to radical Islam.
Earlier this month a French parliamentary committee called for a major overhaul of the country’s intelligence services following the Charlie Hebdo and Bataclan attacks previous year.
Thursday night’s attack in the Riviera city of Nice plunged France into new grief and fear just eight months after gunmen killed 130 people in Paris.
French officials could not confirm Monday that attacker Mohamed Lahouaiyej Bouhlel had been approached by an Algerian recruiter, saying that the investigation is ongoing.
On the internet and social media, supporters of Islamic State cheered the truck attack by Lahouaiej Bouhlel, but as in some previous claims of responsibility by the militant group, no clear link to the group has been established.
Tearful well-wishers were still laying flowers, candles, teddy bears and drawings at a makeshift memorial on the Promenade des Anglais.
“I’ve always said the truth regarding terrorism: there is an ongoing war, there will be more attacks”.
Meanwhile, Nice’s residents are reeling from the attack, as Eleanor reports.
Bouhlel, a resident of Nice, was born in Tunisia but had a permit to live and work in France.
The committee uncovered multiple failures by intelligence agencies in relation to monitoring the extremists who were involved in the Paris attacks.
Mohamed Bouhlel had zigzagged in his vehicle along the seafront in order to run over as many victims as possible and was then shot dead by police.
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“We are faced with an attack of a new kind”, Cazeneuve said after a cabinet meeting at the Élysée Palace.
