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ISIS Claims Responsibility for Attack in Nice, France ISIS Claims Responsibility for Attack in Nice, France
(about 1 hour later)
NICE, France — The Islamic State claimed responsibility on Saturday for the Bastille Day attack on the seaside promenade in Nice, France, which killed 84 people and injured 202.NICE, France — The Islamic State claimed responsibility on Saturday for the Bastille Day attack on the seaside promenade in Nice, France, which killed 84 people and injured 202.
“The man behind the running-over operation in Nice, France, is a soldier from the Islamic State, and he carried out the attack to answer the calls for targeting the nationals of countries in the coalition that is fighting Islamic State,” said a statement from a social media account linked to the Amaq News Agency, which bills itself as the terrorist network’s semiofficial news outlet.“The man behind the running-over operation in Nice, France, is a soldier from the Islamic State, and he carried out the attack to answer the calls for targeting the nationals of countries in the coalition that is fighting Islamic State,” said a statement from a social media account linked to the Amaq News Agency, which bills itself as the terrorist network’s semiofficial news outlet.
Also on Saturday, the SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors jihadist communications, said that the Islamic State had featured its claim of responsibility in a news bulletin on its radio station, Al Bayan, and “threatened that ‘crusader states’ are not safe.” Also on Saturday, the SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors jihadist communications, said that the Islamic State had featured its claim of responsibility in a news bulletin on its radio station, Al Bayan, and that it “threatened that ‘crusader states’ are not safe.”
The claim must be greeted with caution. The Islamic State has at times claimed responsibility for violence carried out in its name, even when there was no indication that the terrorist network had any direct role in planning or carrying out the violence. Unlike its rival jihadist network Al Qaeda, the Islamic State has argued that indiscriminate killings of infidels from enemy countries can be justified, and since 2014, it has been urging its adherents to use vehicles as weapons. The claim must be greeted with caution. The Islamic State has at times asserted responsibility for attacks carried out in its name, even when there was no indication that the terrorist network had any direct role in planning or carrying out the violence.
The man identified as the attacker in Nice — Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel, 31, a native of Tunisia — had a history of petty crime going back to 2010. He had received a six-month suspended sentence for assaulting a motorist, he was not on the radar of French intelligence agencies and he seemed more like a surly misfit — an oddball who beat his wife, until she threw him out — than a terrorist. The man identified as the attacker in Nice — Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel, 31, a native of Tunisia — had a history of petty crime going back to 2010. He received a six-month suspended sentence this year for assaulting a motorist, he was not on the radar of French intelligence agencies and he seemed more like a surly misfit — who beat his wife, until she threw him out — than a terrorist.
In his hometown — Msaken, Tunisia — the man’s father, Mohamed Mondher Lahouaiej Bouhlel, told Agence France-Presse on Friday night that his son had depression, but that he was not an Islamist radical. However, on Saturday morning, Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said it appeared that Mr. Lahouaiej Bouhlel became an extremist very quickly.
“From 2002 to 2004, he had problems that caused a nervous breakdown,” the news agency quoted the father as saying. “We are faced with an attack of a new kind,” Mr. Cazeneuve said after a cabinet meeting at the Élysée Palace. “The individual who committed this absolutely despicable, unspeakable crime was not known by the intelligence services, as he had not stood out over the past years — whether through court convictions or through his activity — for support of radical Islamist ideology.”
Mr. Cazeneuve added: “It seems that he radicalized himself very quickly. In any case, these are the first elements that have come to light through the testimony of his acquaintances.”
On Friday, Prime Minister Manuel Valls told France 2 television that the attacker “is a terrorist probably linked to radical Islam one way or another,” but he did not offer specifics.
In Msaken, Tunisia, the man’s father, Mohamed Mondher Lahouaiej Bouhlel, told Agence France-Presse on Friday night that his son had depression, but that he “had almost no links to religion,” and that “he didn’t pray, he didn’t fast, he drank alcohol, and even used drugs.”
The elder Mr. Lahouaiej Bouhlel said of his son, “From 2002 to 2004, he had problems that caused a nervous breakdown.”
“He would become angry, and he shouted,” he said, adding, “He would break anything he saw in front of him.”“He would become angry, and he shouted,” he said, adding, “He would break anything he saw in front of him.”
The son was prescribed medication for emotional problems, the elder Mr. Lahouaiej Bouhlel said, adding that his son was “always alone, always depressed” and often silent. The father said he and his family had almost no contact with his son since left for France. The son appears to have arrived in Nice around 2005 and to have returned to Tunisia for a sister’s wedding in 2012.The son was prescribed medication for emotional problems, the elder Mr. Lahouaiej Bouhlel said, adding that his son was “always alone, always depressed” and often silent. The father said he and his family had almost no contact with his son since left for France. The son appears to have arrived in Nice around 2005 and to have returned to Tunisia for a sister’s wedding in 2012.
Mr. Lahouaiej Bouhlel’s father told Agence France-Presse that his son “had almost no links to religion” and said, “He didn’t pray, he didn’t fast, he drank alcohol and even used drugs.”
French officials have offered diverging accounts of Mr. Lahouaiej Bouhlel’s beliefs.
On Friday evening, Prime Minister Manuel Valls said the attacker in all likelihood had ties to radical Islamist circles. “He is a terrorist probably linked to radical Islam one way or another,” he told France 2 television.
However, Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve was more cautious. “We have an individual who was not at all known by the intelligence services for activities linked to radical Islamism,” he said, noting that Mr. Lahouaiej Bouhlel was not in the country’s intelligence databases — a point the Paris prosecutor, François Molins, also made on Friday.
Mr. Cazeneuve said that the investigation would determine whether the suspect had acted alone — possibly because he was psychologically “unbalanced” — or whether he was linked to a terrorist network.
The French government has so far denied any security lapses in the prelude to the attack, despite criticism from officials about the government’s intelligence-gathering and other law-enforcement abilities after two major terrorist attacks, in January and in November of last year, that killed 147 people.The French government has so far denied any security lapses in the prelude to the attack, despite criticism from officials about the government’s intelligence-gathering and other law-enforcement abilities after two major terrorist attacks, in January and in November of last year, that killed 147 people.
On Saturday morning, the Paris prosecutor’s office announced that the French police had held four people acquainted with Mr. Lahouaiej Bouhlel. His estranged wife has also been held for questioning.On Saturday morning, the Paris prosecutor’s office announced that the French police had held four people acquainted with Mr. Lahouaiej Bouhlel. His estranged wife has also been held for questioning.
Stéphane Le Foll, the chief government spokesman, batted away criticism of the handling of security in Nice before the attack, much of which has come from right-leaning parties.Stéphane Le Foll, the chief government spokesman, batted away criticism of the handling of security in Nice before the attack, much of which has come from right-leaning parties.
“Those who, after a tragedy like this one, come and say that they would have had the solution, that with them, nothing would have happened, I leave them to their total lack of responsibility,” Mr. Le Foll told Europe 1 radio Saturday morning.“Those who, after a tragedy like this one, come and say that they would have had the solution, that with them, nothing would have happened, I leave them to their total lack of responsibility,” Mr. Le Foll told Europe 1 radio Saturday morning.
“When you are talking after the fact, you can always find solutions,” he added.“When you are talking after the fact, you can always find solutions,” he added.
Mr. Le Foll said that security in Nice on the night of the attack was as tight as it was during the Euro 2016 soccer tournament, which ended on July 10. He said that 185 national police officers and gendarmes were assigned to the Bastille Day celebration and fireworks, in addition to the local police and soldiers.Mr. Le Foll said that security in Nice on the night of the attack was as tight as it was during the Euro 2016 soccer tournament, which ended on July 10. He said that 185 national police officers and gendarmes were assigned to the Bastille Day celebration and fireworks, in addition to the local police and soldiers.
Mr. Le Foll suggested it was hard to prevent attacks like the one in Nice. “How did this horrible act occur on this evening?” he asked. “Because a man decided to rent a truck four days before, all alone, and that he decided to kill people on the 14th of July.”Mr. Le Foll suggested it was hard to prevent attacks like the one in Nice. “How did this horrible act occur on this evening?” he asked. “Because a man decided to rent a truck four days before, all alone, and that he decided to kill people on the 14th of July.”
Saturday was the first of three days of national mourning in France. On the Promenade des Anglais, the celebrated seaside boulevard where Mr. Lahouaiej Bouhlel carried out his attack using a 19-ton refrigerated truck and an automatic pistol, local officials observed a moment of silence.Saturday was the first of three days of national mourning in France. On the Promenade des Anglais, the celebrated seaside boulevard where Mr. Lahouaiej Bouhlel carried out his attack using a 19-ton refrigerated truck and an automatic pistol, local officials observed a moment of silence.
People returned to the beach, although in far smaller numbers than in the days before the attack, but signs of a shaken city were still in evidence.People returned to the beach, although in far smaller numbers than in the days before the attack, but signs of a shaken city were still in evidence.
Many streets were still blocked, parents were still searching for missing children, and hospital staff members puzzled over how to help find the parents of infants who had been thrown to the ground by the truck’s impact.Many streets were still blocked, parents were still searching for missing children, and hospital staff members puzzled over how to help find the parents of infants who had been thrown to the ground by the truck’s impact.
Mejdi Chemakhi, an emergency room nurse-radiologist at Pasteur Hospital in Nice, described parents and children who had lost one another. For him and other emergency nurses and doctors, the trauma has not stopped since Thursday night, when the attack began.Mejdi Chemakhi, an emergency room nurse-radiologist at Pasteur Hospital in Nice, described parents and children who had lost one another. For him and other emergency nurses and doctors, the trauma has not stopped since Thursday night, when the attack began.
Not only have many of them been working since before the accident and are still at work Saturday morning, but they are dealing with a level of physical damage to the body that is traumatic to see. “There were people with traces of the tires on their crushed bodies,” Dr. Chemakhi said as he took a short break between patients. “There were a lot of people with multiple fractures in their pelvis. It was awful.”
“Usually, when you have victims of an attack, you have people with gunshot wounds for instance,” Dr. Chemakhi said. “But here there were crushed bodies to the point we could not even identify anything” on scans.
“There were people with traces of the tires on their crushed bodies,” he said as he took a short break between patients. “There were a lot of people with multiple fractures in their pelvis. It was awful.”
And then there are moments when the worst happens and all their efforts cannot save a life.
“There is this tragic side and enormous frustration when we lose someone on the operating table,” Dr. Chemakhi said. And even then it is not over for them, since the patient has become a task to be finished — to be put into the morgue, all the paperwork done, but no longer with any hope attached to the body.