Blue tarps covered bodies up and down the street. “I was walking for almost a mile and that there were dead bodies over the place”.
Advertisement
Before his name was released, both Agence France-Presse and the local Nice Matin newspaper had identified the driver was a 31-year-old Nice resident. He was not known by Tunisian authorities to hold radical or Islamist views, sources told Reuters.
“He had French and Tunisian nationality”.
Although Bouhlel was involved in petty crime, he was not under surveillance by any intelligence services in France.
No group has claimed responsibility for the carnage, but French officials called it an undeniable act of terror. They visited wounded people in two hospitals, including a facility where officials said they had treated about 50 children and teenagers for a wide range of injuries. Just hours earlier, Hollande had declared that the state of emergency would be lifted on 26 July.
“The more France hurts, the worst we feel.”
“We will reinforce our actions in Syria and in Iraq, and we will continue to strike those who attack us on our own soil, in their refuge”.
The man who jumped on the truck was not the only member of the public who showed vast bravery.
“The motorcyclist attempted to overtake the truck and even tried to open the driver’s door, but he fell and ended up under the wheels of the truck”. But the truck accelerated through an intersection into screaming crowds, where Gutjahr could hear the final confrontation involving 15 to 20 seconds of gunfire.
“I nearly stepped on a corpse, it was frightful”. Inside the truck, police found a large cache of firearms and grenades.
Advertisement
AFP reporter Robert Holloway witnessed the white truck driving at speed into the crowd, causing “absolute chaos”. “They killed him and his head was out the window”. This monstrosity of using a lorry to deliberately kill people, many people, who only came out to celebrate their national day. “The times have changed, and France is going to have to live with terrorism”. The president of the families’ association, Georges Salines, whose daughter was killed in the Bataclan concert hall, addressed the committee. Scores were killed, among them children, and hundreds were hurt, including 18 severely injured in the assault.
