A man named as Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel drove his vehicle more than one mile along the coastal French city’s Promenade de Anglais, sending hundreds of people fleeing in horror.
Advertisement
But prosecutors said that Bouhlel was not known to intelligence services.
French President Francois Hollande, addressing his country following its third major terrorist attack in 18 months, described the assault as an “unspeakable act”.
France is heading into elections next year, and the deeply unpopular President Francois Hollande is facing multiple challengers, from within his own Socialist Party, from the right-wing Republicans and from the far-right National Front.
President Barack Obama issued a statement and called it a “horrific terrorist attack” and said the US had offered assistance in the investigation.
It’s the first claim of responsibility for an attack that claimed 84 lives at a July 14 fireworks display for France’s national holiday.
A heavy truck at high speed rammed into a crowd watching Bastille Day fireworks in the French Riviera city of Nice.
VOA producer Linda Ringe was staying in a hotel overlooking the Promenade des Anglais where the attack took place. “We saw people hit and bits of debris flying around”.
Eighty-four people have been killed after a truck slammed into a crowd of people celebrating Bastille Day in the southern French city of Nice.
The self-proclaimed Islamic State has claimed responsibility for the Nice attack. It was then that police were able to get a good shot at the driver, according to news reports.
“Yesterday in all mosques in the region of Alpes-Maritimes, there has been a common prayer calling for vigilance and patience, because these very bad events affect us; and there has been a call for blood donation”, he said.
The French leader met with security officials in the Elysee palace to consider what to do next.
French Prime Minister Manuel Valls said the government is declaring three days of national mourning after the attack.
Mohamed Lahouaiej-Bouhlel may not have acted alone.
He said France would strengthen its roles in Syria and Iraq.
Christian Estrosi, the governor of Provence-Alpes-Cote d’Azur, where Nice is situated, described the attack “as the worst tragedy in the history of Nice”.
Local politician Éric Ciotti, who witnessed the attack, told Europe 1 radio that the man helped the police stop the attacker.
Among the dead are two U.S. citizens, the U.S. State Department said. Her Republican opponent, Donald Trump, called the attack “horrible”.
They are set to face a judge but it has not been made clear when they will. Police were also unable to say if the men had been charged with any offences.
The attack was launched on a popular street that would normally be packed with tourists and residents on a sunny afternoon in July.
Advertisement
Gutjahr told the AP he watched as several police officers on foot took aim and fired at the truck’s windscreen.
