Nice attack: update on the latest findings of the investigation – Le Figaro

VIDEO – Investigators are still trying to identify the personality of Mohamed Lahouaiej-Bouhlel, author of Nice attack that left 84 dead, described as violent by his wife

.

• Mohamed Lahouaiej-Bouhlel had spotted the scene, and orchestrated the massacre of days earlier. The bomber’s Walk Nice English had spotted the place the 12 and 13 July with his rented truck, which was used to perpetrate the carnage of July 14, according to a source familiar with the cited by AFP. And according to information from our reporter Christophe Cornevin, the killer reserved from July 4 refrigerated truck to Saint-Laurent-du-Var. As stated by the prosecutor Molins, he then recovered the vehicle of 19 tonnes on July 11 and was to make it the day before his bloody equipped. Moreover, according to sources close to the investigation contacted by Le Figaro , Mohamed Lahouaiej-Bouhlel sent a text message to a people now in custody shortly before his attempt to perpetrate . It is however not known the content of the message.

• The prognosis remains committed to 18 people . Pouncing on a truck into the crowd, the killer has made 84 people, including ten children and adolescents. The prognosis is still committed to 18 people, including a child, said Sunday morning Marisol Touraine, Minister of Health. At least ten people “of the Russian community of Nice,” without doubt “have been killed or injured in the attack, according to some officials quoted Sunday. At least 17 foreigners were also among the dead.

• Three new arrests, close custody to the wife of the killer. Sunday arrested two people, a couple of Albanians, are part of the entourage of Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel, according to a police source. This man and woman arrested in Nice, are believed to have provided logistical assistance to Mohamed Lahouaiej-Bouhlel. A third person was arrested in the afternoon. These new arrests are in addition to custody of four men.

One of them, a man of 22 who knew the terrorist “for several months”, said that he “was built, he knew many people,” says his lawyer. The person in custody “has never radicalized, thus de facto it could never be on the same conduct of life that Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel,” said Jean-Pascal Padovani, adding: “It could not be enough in the privacy of Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel to have noticed this radicalization. ” In terrorism cases, custody can reach 96 hours in France, which is 48 hours longer than the duration of police custody in ordinary criminal cases.

The wife of the killer , divorcing with Lahouaiej-Bouhlel, for his part, was released Sunday morning. She was questioned since Friday morning. “She was isolated, it has not seen what was happening outside. This lady was left collapsed in the act by her husband, the father of her three children, “told AFP his lawyer, Jean-Yves Garino. “She had suffered repeated beatings from her husband, physical abuse and harassment. The divorce was pending. He also hit the mother of my client. Complaints were filed, “said his lawyer.

• Hundreds of witnesses already heard . Several witnesses interviewed, among the hundreds already heard, discussed the religiosity of Tunisia. His father however said he had “no connection with religion.” The author of the attack, claimed by the Islamic State group, seemed far more have an unbalanced profile, unknown to the French intelligence services, known only for acts of common crime. “It seems” that the Tunisian 31 years old delivery driver will be “radicalized very quickly,” and said Saturday the interior minister, Bernard Cazeneuve.

• A “show-off” and a “flirty” . In the small gym in central Nice frequented up to it two years ago about Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel, subscribers remember a “show-off”, a “flirty”, told AFP Sunday at a witness . “Limit, it was heavy,” says the witness. A woman who had had to suffer his advances mentions “someone was hitting everything that moves.” Another witness of this gym, quoted by Nice-Matin, Mohamed Lahouaiej “took a lot of stuff to build muscles, he prided himself with anabolic steroids, for bulking up.”

• “I shot until it no longer moves.” RMC was able to consult the minutes of hearing of three policemen who intervened to stop the driver. According to the website of BFM TV, which tells the content they received to 10:45 p.m. a radio call informing them that a truck had entered the avenue and immediately ran in his direction, armed. According to them, the heavyweight realized many volunteers swerving to the maximum casualties. “Arrived at height of the truck, police perceive a civilian, hoisted on the step, trying to intervene in a heroic act, to control the driver. A first explosion resonates, the vehicle stops. Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel just shot, “recalls BFMTV. A shootout ensues. One of the peacekeepers, with nine years of service, is protected behind a palm tree: “I shot to neutralize it, I pulled until it no longer moves.” Between them the police fired 27 times.

(with agencies)