Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel who drove a truck into a crowd in the French city of Nice killing at least 84 was described as a “soldier” of Islamic State, the group’s media outlet said.
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The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the attack, a news service affiliated with the jihadists said Saturday. “We are also shocked”, he said, adding that he had not seen his son since he left for France but was not entirely sure when this was.
“If more people follow the Nice example it will be a nightmare for security services as it is nearly impossible to detect”, said Edwin Bakker, professor at the Centre for Terrorism and Counterterrorism at the University of Leiden in the Netherlands.
A man and woman were detained Sunday morning in Nice, the AP, Reuters and Agence France Presse reported, all citing an unnamed official from the Paris prosecutor’s office.
Amid a wave of mounting criticism, France has called up 12,000 police reservists to help boost security in the wake of Thursday’s attack in Nice.
Today marks the first of three days of national mourning in France.
Following a ministerial meeting at the Elysee Palace, the French minister explained that it seems the attacker “was radicalized very quickly”.
Five children and 21 adults remained in a critical condition and were among 121 people still in hospital, the French health ministry said. The driver was identified as Mohamed Bouhlel, a Tunisian known to authorities as a petty criminal.
Eighty-four people, including 10 children and teenagers, were killed and 200 were wounded when Bouhlel slammed his 19-tonne truck into a throng of spectators on Nice’s seaside boulevard on Friday as the traditional July 14 national day fireworks celebration was ending.
Nice’s famed Promenade des Anglais is gradually reopening and becoming a shrine to the dead, with memorials set up on the westbound lane of the road where victims were felled by an attacker with a truck. Joggers, bikers and sunbathers populated the pedestrian walkway along the glistening Mediterranean Sea, where well-wishers placed flowers, French flags, stuffed animals and candles.
The site is also becoming a platform for anger at the attacker. Then we heard he was dead and police shot him.
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Many families are angry that they couldn’t find information about missing loved ones, and many are angry at police for not preventing the deadly attack despite France being under a state of emergency imposed after Islamic State attacks a year ago in Paris.
