The Islamic State terror group has claimed responsibility for the truck attack in Nice, France, that left 84 people dead, according to ISIS-affiliated Amaq news agency.
RT's LIVE UPDATES on the truck attack in Nice
“The person who carried out the operation in Nice, France, to run down people was one of the soldiers of Islamic State,” Amaq said via its Telegram account.
“He carried out the operation in response to calls to target nationals of states that are part of the coalition fighting Islamic State.”
Earlier, French authorities had said they were unaware of any links between the attack suspect, Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel, and terror groups, but his actions had been in line with extremists’ calls for lone-wolf attacks on Europe and the US.
"He is a terrorist, probably linked to radical Islam one way or another," Prime Minister Manuel Valls told France 2 television on Friday. "Yes, it is a terrorist act and we shall see what links there are with terrorist organizations."
“This sort of thing fits perfectly with calls for murder from such terrorist organizations,” prosecutor Francois Molins also said.
France’s terror log: 230+ killed in attacks since 2015, more than previous century of terrorism
The tragedy in Nice became the third major terror attack to rock France in less than two years.
Eighty-four people were killed and up to 200 sustained injuries in the resort city of Nice, including 10 children and teenagers.
Meanwhile, life in Nice is getting back to normal, with the west-bound direction of the highway reopening and the other side starting to open up. Police presence is still tight, which has raised some eyebrows.
“There was no security,” a local told RT. “For an event like this there should’ve been a minimum of security – you don’t need huge measures, this wasn’t a vast action, this was a guy in a truck. He traveled 2km in a town full of people. It’s unacceptable. Unacceptable! Now we’re seeing loads of police. But when the war is over, it’s useless.”
British politician George Galloway was very dismayed by the conduct of French police.
“It seems just unbelievable to me that such a crowd could be left vulnerable to such a primitive attack,” he told RT, wondering how police could be so lax at a time of national celebration. This especially concerns the police failing to conduct a thorough check of the “giant truck, which, by definition, is a security danger. This is a catalogue of absolute incompetence from the security side, and also from the political side.”