Share

Nice attacker had researched on Orlando gay club massacre

Earlier this month a French parliamentary committee called for a major overhaul of the country’s intelligence services following the Charlie Hebdo and Bataclan attacks past year.

Advertisement

It is the fourth time that parliament has proposed prolonging the state of emergency, and the move now needs to be approved by the Senate.

In the two weeks prior to the attack Bouhlel carried out near-daily internet searches for IS propaganda videos and readings from the Koran, Molins said.

NBC News reported that the reservists called up was in response to boost security measures after the attack.

French Prime Minister Manuel Valls, in the French region of Savoie to inaugurate an engineering project, joined a chorus of officials defending themselves against the charges, and made a public show of support for Cazeneuve in whom, he said, he had full trust.

Thus far the government has found no operational links between the Nice assailant and IS. The security measure had been in place since the November 13 Paris attacks that killed 130 victims and were claimed by the Islamic State group.

French officials couldn’t confirm Monday that attacker Bouhlel had been approached by an Algerian recruiter, saying that the investigation is ongoing. He is calling for electronic tags on anyone with any sign of radicalization and Republicans have asked for indeterminate detention times “on suspicion” of radicalization. His father, in Tunisia, said his son did not pray or fast for Ramadan, the Muslim holy month.

“Once the problem was racial discrimination, now it’s religious discrimination”, said Younis, who declined to give his surname, sitting at the entrance to a dreary eight-story block of flats opposite the suburb’s small mosque.

Police said they had arrested four more people linked to Lahouaiej-Bouhlel, in addition to his estranged wife who was taken into custody on Friday.

In Nice, investigators found a Kalashnikov rifle and a bag of ammunition in the basement of a 22-year-old man who is among five being held over links to Bouhlel.

But on the city’s famed Promenade des Anglais, passers-by piled garbage on the bloodstained spot where Bouhlel was killed.

Speaking to Le Journal de Dimanche on Sunday, Valls said there was no doubting over the assailant’s terrorist motives.

With France into its third day of national mourning, information about driver Bouhlel continues to emerge. The uncle said he learned about the Algerian recruiter from extended family members who live in Nice.

President Francois Hollande’s Socialist administration has come under blistering criticism from opposition conservatives after last week’s deadly attack in Nice.

Tourists have flocked back to the waterside route since it reopened two days after the attack, with the restaurants and hotels once again busy.

During a visit to Nice on Sunday, French Health Minister Marisol Touraine said 18 people, including a child, were still in a critical condition, while about 85 people in total were in hospital. “What have they done up to now to make us feel safe?” While they all said he had always been indifferent to religion, some described a recent and very rapid conversion to radical Islam, the official said, noting that the attack appeared clearly premeditated.

Advertisement

Hollande said “many foreigners and young children” were among those killed or injured.

Nice attacker had researched on Orlando gay club massacre