Background of Butcher Who Drove Truck in Nice, France Attack Remains A Mystery

BALTIMORE, Maryland, Saturday, July 16, 2016 - Even as the death toll rose to 84 in Nice, France, including an 11-year-old American boy and his dad, French Authorities identified the Butcher as a 31-year-old Islamic with a Tunisian background.   While ISIS says it is behind the massacre, the early results of the French investigation seem to suggest otherwise.The Murderer, identfied by authorities as Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel, drove his large truck in a zig-zag pattern along the Promenade des Anglais, enabling him to butcher additional victims.  When his truck was finally stopped, Bouhlel alighted and ran further along the road, using a high-powered rifle to execute other victims while shouting 'Allahu Akbar.' However, other reports said that Boulel only shot people while driving and was killed by police before he could leave the truck. The charge of shouting "Allahu Akbar," has also been questioned.  But French authorities have not backed away from connecting the whole sordid incident to the current Jihad.  Ironically. Bouhlel's brother told investigators that he didn't even believe Bouhlel was a practicing Muslim.  And Bouhlel's father, while admitting he had not seen his son in four years, said that the man had mental problems.

Wikipedia reported that several persons tried to stop the truck during the carnage, including a motorcyclist who tried to latch onto the door of the truck but, instead, was thrown under the truck, and two police officers, who, having witnessed the incident with the motorcyclist, raked the truck with gunfire in a vain attempt to stop the vehicle before it could cause additional deaths.

In France, Minister of the Interior Bernard Cazeneuve initiated a plan immediately following the attacks to beef up security nationwide.  French President François Hollande returned to Paris from Avignon to have an emergency Interior Ministry meeting regarding the attacks. Hollande addressed the French nation in a televised broadcast from Paris in the early morning of Friday, July 15, 2016 announcing future measures against terrorism, including a three-month extension of the state of emergency, previously due to end on July 26.  In the speech he said "There's no denying the terrorist nature of this attack".  He also announced more security personnel would be deployed.  Minister Cazeneuveon 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.  Cazeneuve urged "all patriotic citizens" to join the reserve forces to boost security following the attacks.  Wikipedia deserves much credit for this information, as does the web site "Site Intelligence Group."