French police have detained five people believed to be linked to Mohamed Lahouaiej-Bouhlel, the man who killed 84 people in Nice, the Paris prosecutor’s office says.
According to Le Monde, three arrests were made on July 16 and two on July 15, including Mohamed Lahouaiej-Bouhlel’s estranged wife.
Mohamed Lahouaiej-Bouhlel drove a truck into crowds marking Bastille Day on the Promenade des Anglais on July 14 before he was shot dead by police.
ISIS claimed one of its followers carried out the attack.
Amaq, the news agency linked to ISIS,said: “He did the attack in response to calls to target the citizens of the coalition that is fighting the Islamic State.”
France’s Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said Mohamed Lahouaiej-Bouhlel seemed to have been “radicalized very quickly”.
He said the “new type of attack… showed the extreme difficulty of the fight against terrorism”.
Prosecutors said Mohamed Lahouaiej-Bouhlel, a 31-year-old Tunisian, drove the truck 1.2 miles along the promenade targeting people.
Of the 84 who died, 10 were children. Some 202 people were injured; 52 are critical, of whom 25 are on life support.
Stephanie Simpson, from the Lenval children’s hospital in Nice, said 5 children remained in critical condition, one was in a “very bad” condition, three were on artificial respiration, one had been stabilized and one 8-year-old child remained unidentified.
President Francois Hollande said 50 people were “between life and death”, while several people are missing.
Meanwhile, President Francois Hollande met with his defense and security chiefs and cabinet ministers on July 16.
He called for national unity in France and said: “We are in a time when, and we have seen it, there is a temptation to divide the country.
“Faced with these temptations, faced with this risk, we must recall the unity and cohesion of this country.”
Francois Hollande, who says the attack was a terrorist act, has already moved to extend a state of emergency by three months.
A state of emergency has been in place across France since the Paris attacks carried out by ISIS on November 13.
Francois Hollande had proposed lifting the state of emergency on July 26, but reversed his decision after the Nice attack.
Some 30,000 people were on the Promenade des Anglais at the time of the attack, officials said.
Residents of Nice and foreign tourists were killed, among them 4 French citizens, 3 Algerians, a teacher and two schoolchildren from Germany, 3 Tunisians, two Swiss, two Americans, a Ukrainian, an Armenian and a Russian.
Mohamed Lahouaiej-Bouhlel was known to the police as a petty criminal, but was “totally unknown to intelligence services… and was never flagged for signs of radicalization,” prosecutor Francois Molins said.
However, French PM Manuel Valls said he was “in way or another” linked to radical Islam and Paris prosecutor Francois Molins said the attack bore the hallmarks of jihadist terrorism.
More than 80 people, including children, have been killed after a truck slammed through a crowd celebrating Bastille Day in the southern French city of Nice.
The driver ploughed on for 1.2 miles on the Promenade des Anglais at about 23:00 local time on July 14, before being shot dead by police.
Witnesses say the speeding truck swerved and zigzagged in an apparent attempt to hit more people.
Police reportedly found guns and grenades inside the lorry.
France’s President Francois Hollande said the attack was of “an undeniable terrorist nature”.
PM Manuel Valls has declared three days of national mourning for the victims from July 16.
A state of emergency, in place since November’s Paris attacks carried out by ISIS, in which 130 people died, has been extended by three months.
The attack in Nice began shortly after the end of a firework display on the seafront for Bastille Day, which is the country’s national holiday.
Photo AFP
A white truck, the front of which was riddled with bullet holes, continued to be examined by police in Nice on July 15.
A journalist with the Nice Matin newspaper reported from the scene that there was “a lot of blood”.
According to officials, 84 people died in the attack and about 50 people have been injured, 18 of them critically.
Nice Mayor Christian Estrosi has told local media that about 10 children were among those killed.
No group has so far said it was behind the attack; prosecutors said the inquiry would be handled by anti-terror investigators.
According to AFP news agency, the identity papers of a 31-year-old French-Tunisian were found in the truck, citing an unnamed police source.
Local media reports named the man as Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel, but his identity has not yet been confirmed.
President Francois Hollande addressed the nation on July 15 saying France had been “badly hit” but was strong, adding “we need to do everything we can to fight against” such attacks.
“All of France is under the threat of Islamic terrorism,” he said.
Francois Hollande added that “operational reserves” would be deployed to support the army and security forces across the country, with particular focus on the borders.
Manuel Valls said later that the goal of terrorists was to “instill fear and panic”.
“But France is a great country and a great democracy that will not allow itself to be destabilized,” he said.
President Barack Obama condemned “in the strongest terms” what he said appeared to be “a horrific terrorist attack in Nice”.
Nice’s jazz festival has been cancelled and the southern city of Marseille has announced it is canceling a fireworks show planned to take place on Friday evening.
France is preparing to celebrate its national day – known as Bastille Day – as investigations continue into the country’s worst rail disaster for 25 years.
Six people were killed when a train derailed at Bretigny-sur-Orge, south of Paris, at 17:14 on Friday.
The French train operator SNCF says the crash may have been caused by a fault on the tracks.
President Francois Hollande is expected to call for solidarity in a traditional Bastille Day broadcast on Sunday.
Francois Hollande will give a series of television interviews as workers continue to inspect the wreckage.
A large crane arrived at the site on Saturday evening to lift away the remains of carriages, and to find out whether there are still bodies lying beneath.
French media are reporting that it could still take a number of days to clear the derailed cars.
Transport routes were particularly busy at the time of the crash, as France began a long weekend for Bastille Day.
The July 14 celebrations, marking the start of the French Revolution in 1789, traditionally include an annual military parade on the Champs Elysees in Paris.
The July 14 celebrations, marking the start of the French Revolution in 1789, traditionally include an annual military parade on the Champs Elysees in Paris
A minute’s silence was held across France’s train network at noon on Saturday to commemorate the victims of the accident.
Those killed were four men and two women, aged between 19 and 82. Thirty people were injured, eight seriously.
SNCF said 385 passengers were on board when the train crashed and the station platforms were crowded.
The train had just left Paris on Friday afternoon and was heading for Limoges when six carriages derailed as the train passed through Bretigny-sur-Orge station at 85mph.
The train’s third and fourth carriages derailed first and the others followed. One mounted the station platform.
Eye witnesses described the train flying into the air and flipping over. Some said it was like scenes from a “war zone” with people running and screaming.
Giving its initial findings, SNCF management told reporters a metal bar connecting two rails had become detached at points 200 m outside the station.
“It moved into the centre of the switch and in this position it prevented the normal passage of the train’s wheels and it may have caused the derailment,” said Pierre Izard, SNCF’s general manager for infrastructure.
An SNCF inquiry is now expected to focus on how the piece of metal had become detached.
Separate investigations are also being conducted by judicial authorities and France’s BEA safety agency.
Transport Minister Frederic Cuvillier has praised the driver of the train, saying his quick actions averted a worse accident.
Frederic Cuvillier said the driver had “absolutely extraordinary reflexes in that he sounded the alarm immediately, preventing a collision with another train coming in the opposite direction and which would have hit the derailing carriages within seconds”.
The worst railway accident in France in living memory took place at the Gare de Lyon in Paris in 1988, when two trains collided, killing 56 people.
The French train crash which left six people dead may have been caused by a fault in the rail tracks, says SNCF, the state rail company.
SNCF said a metal bar connecting two rails had become detached close to Bretigny-sur-Orge station.
Transport Minister Frederic Cuvillier has praised the driver, saying his quick actions averted a worse accident.
Those killed were four men and two women, aged between 19 and 82. Thirty people were injured, eight seriously.
A minute’s silence was held across France’s train network at noon on Saturday to commemorate the victims.
The train had just left Paris on Friday afternoon and was heading for Limoges when it derailed at Bretigny-sur-Orge at 17:14 on Friday.
Transport routes were particularly busy at the time, as France began a long weekend for Bastille Day.
Six carriages derailed as the train passed through the station at 137 km/h (85 mph). The train’s third and fourth carriages derailed first and the others followed. One mounted the station platform.
Giving its initial findings, SNCF management told reporters the connector had worked its way loose and become detached at points 200 m outside Bretigny station.
The French train crash which left six people dead may have been caused by a fault in the rail tracks
“It moved into the centre of the switch and in this position it prevented the normal passage of the train’s wheels and it may have caused the derailment,” Pierre Izard, SNCF’s general manager for infrastructure, told reporters.
The inquiry is now expected to focus on how the piece of metal had become detached.
Checks are being carried out on some 5,000 similar connections across the whole of the rail network.
A crane has arrived on site to lift a carriage which was left on its side.
Regional government head Michel Fuzeau said there was a possibility that more bodies could be found underneath, but that there was “no hope of finding anyone wounded”.
Aside from SNCF, investigations are being conducted by judicial authorities and France’s BEA safety agency.
Frederic Cuvillier said the driver had “absolutely extraordinary reflexes in that he sounded the alarm immediately, preventing a collision with another train coming in the opposite direction and which would have hit the derailing carriages within seconds”.
SNCF said 385 passengers were on board when the train crashed and the station platforms were crowded.
Local media said a group of people had attempted to steal from the victims and rescuers shortly after the crash and threw stones at emergency workers as they tried to reach passengers.
However, later Frederic Cuvillier said there had only been “isolated acts”, including an attempt to steal a mobile phone – although small groups had given the rescuers a “somewhat rough welcome”.
Newly elected French President Francois Hollande celebrated his first-ever National Day (known outside of France as Bastille Day) as head of state on Saturday with usual pomp, military parade and flight show.
At 10:00 a.m. local time, Francois Hollande presided the military parade down the Champs Elysees Avenue, which involved some 4,950 soldiers, 368 armored vehicles, 241 horses and 98 jets and helicopters.
French Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault hailed a “national unity,” adding that the Bastille Day represented “an opportunity for the French to come together around the values of France.”
The president’s girlfriend Valerie Trierweiler, who had been keeping a low profile after tweeting her support for a rival of Francois Hollande’s ex-companion Segolene Royal in legislative elections last month, made her first public appearance on Saturday.
French President Francois Hollande celebrated his first-ever National Day
The two-hour parade was closed by a paratroop air show near the Concorde Square. After the parade, Francois Hollande was scheduled to join injured soldiers in Afghanistan to lunch.
Francois Hollande promised to withdraw French combat troops from Afghanistan by the end of this year, two years ahead of the alliance’s plan.
However, the president said France would continue to support Afghanistan in civilian fields including health, education, culture and agriculture and also assist its defense and interior ministries in training.
“This July 14th is the last one of our combat units in Kapisa to pass in Afghanistan. Two thousand soldiers will return to their homes at the end of the year,” the president said when addressing a group of ministers and military figures on the eve of the National Day.
“It is an act of sovereignty that France has posed freely. I took this decision, in harmony with our allies, and with the agreement of the Afghan authorities,” he noted.
Francois Hollande also unveiled a new white paper on defense and national security, the fourth document of its kind for the country, which aims to “define our defense strategy and capabilities of our forces for the next 15 years,” he said.
“The objective is to ensure the long term performance, efficiency and balance of our forces,” he stressed.
In a televised interview later in the afternoon, the head of state will review his first two months of presidency, which has been overshadowed by eurozone crisis and jumping unemployment rate following a wave of job cuts in the country’s leading companies.
Wet summer weather is unlikely to dampen the enthusiasm of Parisians and visitors who turned out in large numbers to witness the annual celebration.
Gardens of the Elysee Palace will be open to visitors throughout the afternoon. Huge crowds are expected to enjoy fireworks display centered on the Eiffel Tower and across the country.
Bastille Day marks July 14, 1789, when French citizens stormed the Bastille prison in Paris, which helped spark the French Revolution.
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