The Paris prosecutor says that the truck driver who killed 84 people in Nice had expressed support for the Islamic State group and searched online for information about the Orlando attack on a gay nightclub.
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On Monday investigators said that 31-year-old Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel, who used a truck to mow down people in Nice leaving a Bastille Day fireworks display, had shown “recent interest” in jihadist activity.
Sadok Bouhlel said that given his nephew’s family problems – he was estranged from his wife and three children – the Algerian “found in Mohamed an easy prey”.
After yet another large-scale terrorist attack, this time in the French resort city of Nice which left more than 80 people dead and more than 200 seriously injured, we’re left wondering how our world will be able to cope with the rise of such “lone wolf” or self-radicalized attacks.
He was shot to death by police after he barreled down the crowded Promenade des Anglais for nearly a mile crushing and hitting people who had gathered to watch fireworks leaving more than 200 people injured. In all, 85 people are still hospitalized after the attack, 18 of them in critical condition. Numerous dead and injured were children watching a fireworks display with their families.
On the second day of national mourning, the Russian Orthodox Church in Nice held an emotional mass for the victims.
But Mr Cazeneuve told France’s RTL radio it can not be excluded that an “unbalanced and very violent individual” has been “through a rapid radicalisation, committed to this absolutely despicable crime”.
At the home of one of the suspects, an Albanian national, investigators found 11 telephones, cocaine and 2,600 euros ($2,900) in cash, according to a security official and the Paris prosecutor’s office.
Manuel Valls, in an interview with the Journal du dimanche newspaper published Sunday, said the Islamic State group “is encouraging individuals unknown to our services to stage attacks”.
“That is without a doubt the case in the Nice attack”, said Valls, warning that “terrorism will be part of our daily lives for a long time”. Though a claim of responsibility was issued by the group via the Amaq news agency on Saturday, authorities in France have yet to determine the timeline of any possible radicalization.
The ministry said it had received confirmation of their deaths late Monday from French officials but it did not identify them or provide any details.
His family and friends have described him as violent and possibly mentally disturbed.
The attacker sent a photo of himself from among the crowds celebrating Bastille Day shortly before he rammed his truck into them, his brother Jaber Bouhlel told CNN Arabic from his hometown of Msaken, Tunisia.
Hollande announced a three-month extension to the state of emergency imposed after the November 13 attacks on Paris that killed 130 victims.
The Islamic State statement said Bouhlel was following their calls to target citizens of countries fighting the extremists, but it’s unclear whether he had concrete links to the group.
The claim of responsibility came as French security chiefs met in Paris and as Nice’s seaside boulevard, the famous Promenade des Anglais, is slowly coming back to life. Some spots are still identifiable by bloodstains.
Joggers, bikers and sunbathers on Sunday cruised down the pedestrian walkway along the glistening Mediterranean Sea, where well-wishers placed flowers, French flags, stuffed animals and candles. France’s National Assembly has voted to extend the state of emergency for six months, reports BBC.
The site is also becoming a platform for anger at the attacker.
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Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve has defended the government, saying it has bolstered security notably by sending thousands of troops into the streets.French Prime Minister Manuel Valls warned Tuesday that the country must be prepared for more deadly attacks and will have to “learn to live with the threat”.
