FACTBOX - 2016 Truck Attack In Nice

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 14th July, 2019) July 14 marks Bastille Day, the French National Day, and is also the second anniversary of a devastating truck attack in Nice.

A truck driver rammed into a crowd of people who gathered on the Promenade des Anglais in the southern French city of Nice on the evening of July 14, 2016, to watch the fireworks on Bastille Day. As a result of the attack, 86 people were killed, and 450 others were injured.

The perpetrator was a Tunisian national, Mohamed Lahouaiej-Bouhlel, born in 1985, who lived in Nice and worked as a delivery-truck driver. He was married and had children.

On July 11, he rented a 19-tonne cargo truck, which he was supposed to return in two days, but never did. According to the video footage, the vehicle was parked in a district in the east of Nice on July 13. The next day, at 9:34 p.m. local time (19:34 GMT), Lahouaiej-Bouhlel rode up on his bicycle to the truck and, after putting the bike into the back of the vehicle, drove the truck away to the west. At about 10:45 p.m. he arrived to the Promenade des Anglais, where for two kilometers (1.2 miles) he was intentionally hitting people. According to the city hall, 30,000 people were on the Promenade des Anglais at the time of the attack.

According to witnesses, the truck was moving at a speed of about 50 kilometers per hour. The terrorist intentionally drove the truck in a zig-zag manner, trying to hit as many people as possible. A motorcyclist, employee of the airport in Nice, Franck Terrier tried to catch up with the truck and stop the driver. Terrier threw his scooter under the wheels of the truck, grabbed a cabin door and started to beat the driver with his left hand through the open window. In response, the driver tried to shoot Terrier, but his gun malfunctioned. After that Bouhlel hit Terrier with the butt of the gun.

A cyclist named Alexandre Migues also tried to stop the attacker. He managed to grab the handle of the cabin door, tried to open it several times but failed. He let go of the door after the terrorist pointed the gun at him.

The truck driver fired several shots at three policemen near Hotel Negresco. The policemen returned fire and chased the truck, which drove for another 300 meters (984 feet). The police killed the terrorist near the Palais de la Mediterranee.

According to the investigation, the police found a 7.65 mm caliber automatic pistol, a cartridge clip, several used and unused cartridges of the same caliber, as well as a fake automatic pistol, two fake assault rifles (AK and M16), a grenade, and a mobile phone in the cabin of the truck.

The identity of the terrorist was established thanks to the driver's license and a credit card, which were also found in the cabin, after his fingerprints were verified.

Lahouaiej-Bouhlel was known to police for prior offenses, including threats, violence, theft, and damage to property, which were committed from 2010-2016. On March 23, 2016, he was sentenced to a six-month suspended sentence on charges of violence with a weapon.

The Islamic State terrorist organization (banned in Russia) claimed responsibility for the Nice truck attack.

On July 15, then-French President Francois Hollande declared three days of national mourning in tribute to those killed during the terrorist attack in Nice.

On July 22, it became known that the French authorities charged five detainees in connection with the attack.

The three suspects were accused of complicity in murders committed by a terrorist-related group, while two others were charged with firearms violations in connection with the activities of a terrorist group.

On December 12, French special police forces detained ten people on suspicion of providing material and technical support, directly or indirectly, to the Nice attacker. Later, seven detainees were released, only three men, aged 24, 31 and 36, remained in custody. They were charged on December 17.

According to a judicial source, as part of the investigation, the men were accused of helping to arm Lahouaiej-Bouhlel. It is assumed that they were associated with an Albanian married couple, who gave the terrorist a pistol, and with another detainee during the investigation.

In total, according to the data for April 2019, nine people were charged in the case of the terrorist attack in Nice, while one of them committed suicide in prison in June 2018. Three defendants were released from jail.

The attack in Nice led to an enormous controversy over the lack of security measures on the day of the tragedy. In July 2016, then-Mayor of Nice Philippe Pradal and President of the Regional Council of Provence-Alpes-Cote d'Azur at the time, Christian Estrosi, said that there were not enough national police officers in the city on July 14.

It was also reported that the anti-terrorism unit of the French criminal police demanded that the local authorities destroyed all the videos related to the terrorist attack. The media reported that there was only one car of the municipal police at the entrance to the pedestrian zone on the day of the attack.

On January 19, 2017, the Nice Prosecutor's Office announced that it had stopped the investigation, which was launched in connection with the complaints from the relatives of the victims of the terrorist attack on the security measures taken by the authorities on the day of the tragedy. According to the Nice prosecutor, Jean-Michel Pretre, the investigation did not come to the conclusion that the killings were in any way related to intentional violations of security arrangements. Pretre also noted that all security measures met the requirements.

However, the investigation was resumed later in 2017. Hearings were conducted and witnesses holding high positions in France were interviewed.

Authorities re-evaluated some of the security measures in the city. In particular, a safety barrier was installed along the Promenade des Anglais, which should make the promenade more secure.

On January 1, 2017, according to a presidential decree, 22 people were awarded orders for the Legion of Honor (the Legion d'Honneur) for heroic and selfless actions during the terrorist attack in Nice.

On July 14, 2017, the anniversary of the tragic events in Nice, police officers, doctors and other people who were involved in helping the victims were awarded the Legion d'Honneur. Franck Terrier was among those who were awarded.

As of June 2019, 53 million Euros ($59.6 million) of compensations were paid out to the victims of the attack. A total of 2,256 people, including 465 relatives of those killed, 259 injured and their relatives, 1,532 victims who suffered various injuries received the payments.