Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhle as truck driver in France’s Bastille Day terrorist attack, death toll rises to 84
The attacker at the wheel of a heavy truck plowing into crowds celebrating Bastille Day in the French city of Nice, killing at least 84 people and injuring scores more has been idnentified as a Tunisian Muslim man named Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel.
President Francois Hollande called the incident a terrorist act while French intelligence confessed that Bouhlel was not on their watch list, but was known to the police in connection with theft and violence, the sources said.
Bouhlel,31, left behind a wake of death with 18 people still in critical condition after the Thursday night attack, confirmed Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve.
The man reportedly praised Allah with his last dying words, source here.
He was shot dead by the police after barrelling two kilometres through the crowd on the famous Promenade des Anglais in the resort town. One witness confirmed the attacker was firing a gun as he drove.
“I saw this enormous white truck go past at top speed,” said Suzy Wargniez, a local woman aged 65 who was watching from a cafe on the promenade. “It was shooting, shooting.”
A local government official said weapons and grenades were later found inside the vehicle driven Bouhlel.
The dead included several children, while the U.S. State Department said two American citizens had been killed. Russian student Viktoria Savchenko was also among the dead, according to the Moscow academy where she studied.
Hollande confirmed that he was calling up military and police reservists to relieve forces worn out by enforcing a state of emergency begun in November after the Islamic State gunmen and suicide bombers struck Paris entertainment spots, killing 130 people.
“France is filled with sadness by this new tragedy,” Hollande said. “There’s no denying the terrorist nature of this attack.”
Major events in France have been guarded by troops and armed police since the Nov. 13 attacks.
President Obama said he condemned “what appears to be a horrific terrorist attack.” No group has claimed responsibility, but supporters of Islamic State celebrated the attack on social media.
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