Updated August 19, 2016
Dozens of people were killed, including children, when a truck plowed into a large crowd of people in the French city of Nice who were watching a Bastille Day fireworks display.
The driver also opened fire before being killed by police. Here’s what we know about what happened.
Who is the attacker?
Paris prosecutor Francois Molins said Lahouaiej-Bouhlel was divorced and had three children. His ex-wife was detained along with four other people believed to be linked to him. Police also searched an apartment he lived in near Nice train station.
Mullins said that Lahouaiej Bouhlel was “absolutely unknown” to the security services, and that investigations were continuing into whether he had acted alone.
Lahouaiej Bouhlel is said to have rented the truck from a rental company in Saint-Laurent-du-Var, a town west of Nice, on July 11. He was due to return it on July 13.
Police said that at the time of the attack, Lahouaiej Bouhlel had in his possession an automatic pistol, bullets, a fake automatic pistol, two identical assault rifles (a Kalashnikov and an M16) and an empty hand grenade. He also had a driver’s license and a bank card in the truck.
Who are the victims?
Eighty-six people were killed, all but three of them at the time of the attack. Among the dead were 10 children and teenagers.
303 people were taken to hospital for medical treatment. A man who was seriously injured in the attack died on August 4, bringing the total death toll to 85.
In the hours following the attacks, relatives of the missing posted photos on social media.
Among the dead was Fatima Sharihi, who her son said was the first to die.
The other victim was reportedly the assistant chief of border police in Nice, Jean-Marc Leclerc.
An 11-year-old American boy named Brody Copeland and his father, Sean, were also killed. They were on holiday in Nice.
Three people remain missing during a school trip from Germany.
Who is behind the attack?
French security officials are still assessing whether the truck driver was working alone or in a group.
ISIS later announced that one of its followers had carried out the attack.
The group’s Amaq news agency said the attacker “carried out the attack in response to calls to target citizens of the coalition fighting the Islamic State.”
Officials said it bore the fingerprints of a terrorist organization.
President Hollande said the attack was “an attack whose terrorist nature cannot be denied.”
Moulin said the attack was “in line with ongoing calls for killing” from Islamist extremist groups, and the investigation would seek to find out whether Lahouaiej Bouhlel had ties to Islamist extremists.
French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said Lahouaiej-Bouhlel appeared to have “radicalised very quickly”.
Paris anti-terrorism prosecutors have opened an investigation into murder and attempted murder as part of an organised terrorist attack.
The French internal security organization DGSI warned of the risk of further attacks by Islamic militants using “car bombs and bombs.”
ISIS has targeted France on several occasions since January 2015.
Just hours before the Nice attack, President Hollande announced that the state of emergency in France would be lifted later this month. After the Nice attack, the state of emergency was extended.
What happened in the walkway?
The terror began shortly after 22:30 (20:30 GMT) on July 14, shortly after thousands of people watched a fireworks display on the waterfront.
There was a festive atmosphere and attendees enjoyed an air force display. Families strolled along the city’s famous Promenade des Anglais.
A large white truck was seen driving erratically two blocks from the waterfront park. “He was accelerating, braking, accelerating, braking. We thought it was weird,” said Laicia Baroe, describing how the truck then turned into the park and headed southwest toward the airport.
But it wasn’t another half hour before the attack began. A German journalist watched from the hotel balcony as the truck returned from the airport, breaking through the barriers on the promenade opposite the Lenval Children’s Hospital.
“He was driving really slowly, which was amazing,” said Richard Gutjahr, who described seeing a motorcyclist following the truck. “The motorcyclist tried to overtake him and even tried to open the driver’s door,” he told AFP. At that moment, the motorcyclist fell under the truck’s wheels.
When two police officers opened fire on the truck, the driver accelerated and drove at full speed toward the crowd.
The car mounted the sidewalk and then zigzagged back onto the road for about 2 kilometres (1.25 miles), with the driver deliberately running over people.
A local representative spoke of hundreds of people being run over. Others rushed to safety, to the beach or to nearby hotels.
One eyewitness said, “I was in front of the Palais de la Méditerranée hotel when I saw a truck traveling at high speed running over people. I saw it with my own eyes. People were trying to stop it.”
The police finally managed to stop the truck near the luxury hotel.
The driver repeatedly fired at three police officers, who returned fire and chased him for hundreds of metres, Paris prosecutor Francois Molins said.
A video clip taken by a mobile phone showed the moment the driver was shot.
Pictures from the scene showed the truck’s windshield and front had been hit by gunfire. Interior Ministry officials later confirmed that the attacker had been “neutralized.”
How did the authorities react?
It soon became clear that many people had died, although the full extent of the disaster was not clear. The dead and wounded were transferred to the local university medical center in Nice.
In the area around Nice, the anti-terrorism alert has been raised to its highest level.
President Francois Hollande flew back to Paris after a visit to Avignon, joining Prime Minister Manuel Valls in the crisis room. Waltz declared three days of mourning.
The duo then travelled to Nice, where the interior and health ministers were already engaged in crisis meetings with local officials.
Hollande met with the Ministers of Defense and Security and his government ministers.
Later, Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve called on “patriotic citizens” to become reservists to boost security across the country.
He also reiterated the pledge made by Mr. Hollande to call up the current French reserve contingent, which totals about 12,000 volunteers.
