The Islamic State group claimed responsibility Saturday for an attack in which a Tunisian plowed a truck into a crowd in Nice, killing 84, prompting hard questions in France over security failures.
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A terrorist sped a rented truck through a crowd of thousands enjoying Bastille Day celebrations in Nice on Thursday night.
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.
The 31-year-old was born in Msaken, a town in Tunisia, but moved to France years ago and was living in the country legally, working as a delivery driver.
The group also described the attacker as a “soldier” of the organization.
He said: “The statement refers to Bouhlel as some sort of soldier for the caliphate but they haven’t prepared any propaganda ahead of time that would indicate this was part of a formed plot, which they have done so in the past – the martyr videos”.
“My brother had psychological problems, and we have given the police documents showing that he had been seeing psychologists for several years”, Rabeb Bouhlel, Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel’s sister, told Reuters.
The four others detained were friends and acquaintances rather than family, the network reported.
A state of emergency has been in place across France since November’s Paris attacks carried out by militants from the so-called Islamic State group, in which 130 people died.
Molins said Lahouaiej-Bouhlel had had various brushes with the law since 2010 for making threats, theft and violence, including a conviction in March this year for which he was given a six-month suspended sentence.
Earlier, the IS-affiliated Amaq news service quoted a security source as saying the attack was “in response to calls to target nations of coalition states that are fighting (IS)”.
Rebab and Ibrahim Bouhlel said there was no sign of unusual behavior or Islamist radicalization when he called.
There is no evidence IS was involved in planning the July 14 attack.
Speaking in Nice, the president of the Regional Council for the Muslim Faith, Boubakar Bekri, said mosques in the area had responded to the attack.
Stallholder Romain Ribero said France was used to high security in the wake of last year’s Paris attacks.
The French government has vowed to overhaul its emergency smartphone app created to alert the public to an ongoing terror attack after it malfunctioned during the attack on Nice.
Shortly after 10:30 pm, he drove onto the Promenade des Anglais that had been closed to traffic for the night.
“I saw his face, ” Swedish tourist John Lambert told The Associated Press. “Today I’m nearly ashamed and afraid”.
France is observing three days of national mourning in homage to the victims – although that hasn’t stopped politicians from sniping at each other over who bore responsibility for the failing to stop the attack.
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“France is filled with sadness by this new tragedy”, President Francois Hollande said in a dawn address.
