Nice attack: Bastille Day killer Mohamed Lahouaiej-Bouhlel 'planned second atrocity'

Attack: 84 people were killed in Nice
Christine PoujoulatAFP/Getty
Peter Allen22 July 2016

A chilling audio message recorded by Bastille Day killer Mohamed Lahouaiej-Bouhlel suggests a second atrocity was being planned for August, French prosecutors fear.

The revelation came as five alleged accomplices of the man who used a 19-tonne lorry to murder 84 people appeared in court today charged with terrorist offences.

At 5pm on July 14 - the day of the attack on crowds watching a firework display in Nice - Lahouaiej-Bouhlel recorded a message saying: “Chokri and his friends are ready for next month, they are currently with Walid,” according to Le Monde.

Lahouaiej-Bouhlel was shot dead by police and all of the names mentioned in phone messages recovered by investigators are covered by the four men — including Tunisian Chokri C — and one women who have been charged. However, prosecutors fear there could be other accomplices who are still at large and ready to strike.

Killer: Mohamed Lahouaiej-Bouhlel 
AP

At 10.27pm, minutes before the attack started, Lahouaiej-Bouhlel send his last text message, to Ramzi A. It read: “I wanted to tell you that the pistol that you got me yesterday it very good, so I want five from your girlfriend. They’re for Chokri and his friends.”

Ramzi A, a Franco-Tunisian, has been charged with arms offences in relation to a terrorist enterprise.

Two Albanians - Artan H, 38, and a woman referred to as asEnkeledgia Z, 42 - are accused of supplying the gun which the killer used to shoot at police officers on July 14.

According to Le Monde, Ramzi A has told investigators that a stash of Kalashnikovs is being referred to in several messages.

Paris prosecutor Francois Molins said analysis of Lahouaiej-Bouhlel’s phone showed he was in contact with Mohamed Walid G - who has been charged as an accomplice - for 15 years. The men, both Franco-Tunisians, shared “a sympathy” with the “jihadi cause”, said Mr Molins.

People close to Lahouaiej-Bouhlel claimed he had shown no signs of radicalisation until very recently. But Mr Molins said information from his phone suggested he could have been preparing an attack as far back as May last year.

One photo in his phone, taken on May 25 last year, was an article on Captagon, a drug said to be used by some jihadis before attacks. Islamic State has claimed the killer was one of its “soldiers”, though the French authorities say they have not found any direct links to the terrorist group.

However, Mr Molins said the investigation had confirmed that the attack was premeditated. Telephone records were used to link the five suspects to the killer, and allegedly to support roles in the carnage.

Lahouaiej-Bouhlel and a 30-year-old French-Tunisian with no previous convictions had phoned each other 1,278 times in a year, Mr Molins added.

He said a text message from the man found on a phone at Lahouaiej-Bouhlel’s home read: “I’m not Charlie; I’m happy. They have brought in the soldiers of Allah to finish the job.”

Lahouaiej-Bouhlel had been portrayed as a misfit with no interest in religion who became obsessed with terrorism and continually looked at atrocities on the internet.

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