Share

French PM says clear that Nice truck driver was radicalized quickly

Bouhlel’s mobile phone which the police retrieved after shooting him at the site of the terror attack is proving to be the most crucial source of information, reports the Telegraph.

Advertisement

Islamic State has claimed responsibility for the attack.

A grieving France was observing the second of its three days of national mourning for the 84 people, including 10 children, killed in the attack and the more than 200 injured. Thousands gathered on a beachfront in this resort city near where the attack occurred.

Their comments come after French newspaper Liberation said Cazeneuve lied about the whereabouts of the national police officers and cars, and accused authorities of lacking transparency.

The suspect is among seven people in custody in the probe into last week’s attack, which killed 84 people.

Three of the six were transferred to the intelligence headquarters on Monday.

Investigators say that 31-year-old Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel, who used a 19-tonne truck to mow his victims down in Nice, had shown “recent interest” in jihadist activity.

On the day of the attack he appeared to have spent much of the national holiday on the promenade, taking selfies.

She said Stratton can not speak and does not remember the attack, “which is better”. She declined to discuss the injuries saying that the family wants to protect Stratton’s privacy.

But a South African man who looked on in horror as he rammed his rental truck into the crowd on the Nice promenade said he looked “calm” and very focused.

“I never saw him at the mosque”, said the caretaker of an apartment building who frequents the local prayer hall and asked not to be named.

Prime Minister Manuel Valls told the Journal du dimanche newspaper that authorities “now know that the killer radicalized very quickly”. At the memorial service on the Promenade des Anglais, some bystanders in the crowd heckled Valls and other government representatives, crying “assassins” and “resign”. Buildings stood silent across the country.

The detained suspects are four men – identified as Franco-Tunisians Ramzi A. and Mohamed Oualid G., a Tunisian named Chokri C., and an Albanian named Artan – and a woman of dual French-Albanian nationality identified as Enkeldja, Molins said. Bouhlel’s estranged wife is released, bringing the number of people in detention during the killings to six.

He said: “Times have changed and we should learn to live with terrorism”.

Emotions are running high in France after the third major attack in 18 months.

President Francois Hollande said the conclusions of that investigation will be known next week.

“An action plan has been demanded without delay so that such an incident can not happen again”, the ministry said. French warplanes have been involved in the operation in Iraq and to a lesser degree in Syria. “The claim on Saturday morning by Islamic State and the fast radicalization of the killer confirms the Islamist nature of this attack”.

Advertisement

Investigators had found no proof of any “allegiance or any direct link” to Islamic State or other terrorist organisations, according to Molins.

2 new arrests in Nice truck attack, as IS claim studied