Monday, 18 July 2016

France Begun Its Third Day Of National Mourning (84 Dead)

Tunisian-born Bouhlel, 31, rammed his rented truck into revellers who had gathered on the promenade to watch a Bastille Day fireworks display.
He killed at least 84 people - 16 who are still unidentified - and injured more than 200 others in Thursday night's atrocity.
A minute's silence will be observed across France today in memory of the 84 victims of the lorry attack in Nice.

France has begun its third day of national mourning, ahead of a meeting between EU foreign ministers and the US Secretary of State John Kerry in Brussels later.

The talks are expected to focus on the fight against terrorism in Europe in the wake of the attack in Nice and relations with Turkey after a failed military coup.

On Sunday, it emerged lorry killer Mohamed Bouhlel reportedly sent a picture of himself laughing as he mingled with the crowd hours before the attack in Nice.
He also allegedly sent a text message "discussing weapons" prior to the massacre.

Speaking in Tunisia, Jabeur Bouhlel claimed his brother had telephoned him hours before the rampage and sent a selfie among the crowds.

He said: "That last day he said he was in Nice with his European friends to celebrate the national holiday."

He added that in the photo "he seemed very happy and pleased, he was laughing a lot". Bouhlel had zigzagged in his vehicle along the seafront in order to run over as many victims as possible before he was shot dead by police.

The killer, who had lived in the southern French city for a number of years, is thought to have visited the site twice in the two days before the tragedy.

Around 85 victims remain in hospital and 18 of them - including one child - are in a life-threatening condition.

Meanwhile, a man and a woman were held in Nice on Sunday morning.


Their arrests follow the detention of five other people since the tragedy, including Bouhlel's estranged wife. She has now been released from custody.

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