2016 Nice attack
The Promenade des Anglais, where the attack took place
Route of the attacker from west to east
Location	Promenade des Anglais, Nice, France
Coordinates	43°41′37″N 7°15′21″E / 43.6936°N 7.2557°E / 43.6936; 7.2557
Date	14 July 2016 (Bastille Day) c. 22:40 CEST (UTC+02:00)
Attack type	Vehicular assault
Weapons	Cargo truck and a handgun.
Deaths	85 (including the perpetrator)[1][2]
Injured	202 (18 critically)[3][4]
Assailant	Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel

On the evening of 14 July 2016, Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel, a Tunisian resident of France,^[5][6] deliberately drove a 19-tonne cargo truck into crowds celebrating Bastille Day on the Promenade des Anglais in Nice, killing 85 people and injuring 202.^[7][8][9] Bouhlel also fired at police and civilians with a handgun. The attack ended when he was shot dead by police.

The incident has been described as the third major terrorist attack in France since January 2015, following the Île-de-France attacks in January 2015 and the Paris attacks in November 2015.^[9] On 16 July, Amaq News Agency, an online presence said to be affiliated with the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), said Bouhlel "carried out the operation in response to calls to target nationals of states that are part of the coalition fighting [the] Islamic State".^[10]

Background

On the morning before the attack, French President François Hollande said the state of emergency put in place after the November 2015 Paris attacks would end after the Tour de France finished on 26 July 2016.^[11] France had just finished hosting the Euro 2016 football tournament, during which the country had extensive security measures in place and deployed many soldiers. Some matches were played in Nice, ending with the England–Iceland match on 27 June.^[12]

On the evening of 14 July, tens of thousands of people were celebrating Bastille Day on the Nice waterfront. As well as the customary fireworks, the celebrations included an air force display.^[13][14]

Attack

At approximately 22:10 CEST (20:10 UTC), 30 minutes before the incident, a 19-tonne white cargo truck^[16][18] was seen approaching the Promenade des Anglais, driving erratically. "He was speeding up, braking, speeding up again and braking again," according to a witness.^[14] The truck then turned on to the Promenade and headed southwest, but then doubled back again.^[14]

The fireworks were finishing at approximately 22:40 CEST (20:40 UTC),^[19] when the truck slowly breached the vehicle barriers opposite the Lenval children's hospital.^[14] A motorcyclist pursued the truck and attempted to pull open the driver's side door, but fell under the wheels and was crushed, leaving them gravely injured.^[14] Watching this, two nearby police officers opened fire on the truck.^[20] At this point, the driver sped up, drove northeast, and plunged into the crowds on the Promenade, swerving to hit pedestrians. Police tried to stop it with gunfire, and the driver shot back at them, as well as at people in the crowd. The driver continued for 2 kilometres (1.2 mi), killing and injuring pedestrians. According to eyewitness Éric Ciotti, an individual jumped onto the truck, distracting and drawing gunfire from the driver^[21] while the police surrounded the truck near the Palais de la Méditerranée hotel.^[14] The vehicle was raked with bullets and the driver killed.^[14][22]

Police recovered a magazine, a pistol, an empty grenade, and replica Kalashnikov and M16 rifles from the truck.^[23]

Perpetrator

The French authorities identified the perpetrator as Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel, a 31-year-old man of Tunisian nationality,^[24] born in Tunisia, with a French residency permit and living in Nice.^[6] Bouhlel had three children and was divorced.^[14] His parents live in Tunisia and had rarely heard from him since he moved to France in 2005.^[25] His father said he had undergone psychiatric treatment before he moved to France.^[26] Bouhlel was known to French police for five prior criminal offences, notably for threatening behaviour, violence and petty theft.^[27] He was not registered as a national security risk (fiche "S") with French authorities^[24] and, at the time of the attack, he was not known by French or Tunisian authorities to have links to terrorist organizations.^[7][9]

Neighbours claimed that Bouhlel rarely spoke to them and did not appear to be religious due to the fact that he allegedly ate pork, drank alcohol, did not observe Ramadan among other things.^[28][25][29] Some claimed he did not pray at mosques, and was "more into women than religion".^[30] However, investigators said Bouhlel seems to have become radicalized shortly before the attack and that the transformation happened quickly. One local said that Bouhlel began attending a mosque in April, and examination of Bouhlel's phone records found evidence that he was in contact with known Islamic extremists. Days before the attack, he sent 240,000 dinars to his family in Tunisia.^[31] Bouhlel's brother said that he had received images of Bouhlel laughing amongst the holiday crowds in Nice hours before the attack.^[32] Witnesses said Bouhlel shouted "Allahu Akbar" during the attack, but those reports^[33] have not been confirmed by officials.^[34]

Victims

Bouhlel killed 84 people and injured 202, 52 critically; 25 remained on life support the next day. At least 10 of the dead were children or teenagers.^[7][9] As many of those injured had not immediately reached out for help, the total number of injured was raised to 303 on 16 July.^[4] Along with many French, numerous foreigners also died.^[7][35][36]

Nationalities of victims

Nationality	Dead	Injured	Ref.
Algeria	3		[37]
Armenia	2		[38][39]
Australia	0	5	[40][41]
Belgium	1	1	[42]
Brazil	1	3	[43][44]
China		2	[45]
Czech Republic		1	[46]
Estonia		4	[47]
France	23		[48]
Georgia	1		[49]
Germany	3	2	[50][51]
Hungary		1	[52]
Ireland		1	[53]
Italy		3	[54]
Kazakhstan	4		[55]
Madagascar	2	4	[56]
Malaysia		1	[57]
Morocco	3	1	[58]
Netherlands		3	[59]
Poland	2		[60]
Portugal		1	[61]
Romania		4	[62][37][63]
Russia	1	1	[64][37]
Singapore		1	[38][65]
Switzerland	2		[38][42]
Tunisia	4		[37][66]
Ukraine	1	2	[67]
United Kingdom	1	1	[37][68]
United States	3		[38][69][70]
Not yet confirmed	28	162
Total	84	202	[7]

Investigation

The French prosecutor said the attack "bore the hallmarks of jihadist terrorism" but that no group had claimed responsibility for the attack,^[7] and a preliminary investigation by French officials has not connected Bouhlel to any international terror groups.^[71]

On 15 July, Bouhlel's estranged wife and a man were arrested, followed by three more men the next day. The French prosecutor's office did not immediately disclose who the men are or why anyone was detained.^[72][27] A source close to the investigation stated to CNN that local associates of Bouhlel who were detained for questioning said that he had started speaking in support of ISIL in the days before the attack.^[73]

On 17 July two additional people, a man and a woman, were arrested in Nice following a police raid the day before.^[74] The two people arrested were Albanians suspected of helping Bouhlel obtain the gun used in the attack.^[75][76] Police sources have disclosed to BFMTV that Bouhlel's mobile phone, recuperated from the truck after he was shot by police, has been one of their main sources of information concerning Bouhlel's activities and contacts prior to the attack.^[77] Phone records showed Bhoulel contacted some of the six arrested, and may have contacted known Islamic radicals in his neighbourhood.^[76][78] Bhoulel was found to have sent text messages to an unidentified contact during the attack, asking for "more weapons".^[78]

According to media sources, police investigators discovered CCTV footage showing Bouhlel in his rented truck closely surveying the area of the attack on 12 and 13 July.^[79][80]

Reactions

Immediately after the attack, when it remained unclear whether the threat had ended, people used social media, particularly Twitter, to help others find shelter, using the hashtag #PortesOuvertesNice (Open Doors Nice), a variation of a hashtag used in other recent attacks in France.^[81][82][83]

President François Hollande returned to Paris from Avignon to have an emergency Interior Ministry meeting regarding the attacks.^[84] Hollande addressed the French nation in a televised broadcast from Paris in the early morning of 15 July 2016 announcing future measures against terrorism, including a three-month extension of the state of emergency, previously due to end on 26 July.^[7] In the speech he said "There's no denying the terrorist nature of this attack".^[85] He also announced more security personnel would be deployed.^[86] The Prime Minister of France Manuel Valls later announced three days of national mourning on 16–18 July.^[7]

Minister of the Interior Bernard Cazeneuve initiated the ORSEC plan immediately following the attacks.^[87] He later announced plans to increase security in response to the attack by calling 12,000 police reservists to add to the 120,000 person force.^[88] He urged "all patriotic citizens" to join the reserve forces to boost security following the attacks.^[89]

French Prime Minister Manuel Valls said Bouhlel was "probably linked to radical Islam in one way or another", and put the attack in the context of a "war" against terrorism and radical Islam both outside and within France.^[90] This claim was initially cautioned by the French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve who said "We have an individual who was not known to intelligence services for activities linked to radical Islam".^[7]

Two days after the attack, Amaq News Agency, an online presence said to be affiliated with the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), called Bouhlel "one of the soldiers of Islamic State." It cited a "security source" which said Bouhlel "carried out the operation in response to calls to target nationals of states that are part of the coalition fighting Islamic State".^[91][92]

French Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian claimed the attacks were linked to ISIL, also known as Daesh. He said that "I remind you that Daesh's ideologue, Abu Muhammad al-Adnani, has for several weeks repeated calls to attack directly, even individually, Frenchmen, in particular, or Americans, wherever they are, by any means necessary," adding that "Even if Daesh doesn’t do the organizing, Daesh inspires this terrorist spirit, against which we are fighting."^[4] Minister Cazeneuve said if Bouhlel was radicalized, "It seems that he was radicalized very quickly — in any case these are the elements that have come up from the testimony of the people around him".^[93] Some commentators have questioned the degree to which the Islamic State was involved in the attack, noting that Bouhlel may have been "a mentally ill person with whom IS is opportunistically associating".^[94]

See also

• List of massacres in France
• List of terrorist incidents in July 2016
• List of Islamist terrorist attacks
• Terrorism in France
• Vehicular assault as a terrorist tactic

References