Mohamed Salmene Lahouaiej-Bouhlel (French pronunciation: [mɔamɛd lauɛʒ bulɛl]; Arabic: محمد لحويج بوهلال Muḥammad Laḥwiyyij-Būhlāl; 3 January 1985 – 14 July 2016) was a Tunisian terrorist who carried out the 2016 Nice truck attack, in which he drove a truck into a crowd celebrating Bastille Day on the Promenade des Anglais in Nice, France, hitting 520 people, killing 86 and injuring another 434.
[7] His father, who lives in the family's native town, told an international news agency that his son suffered from depression, drank alcohol and was a drug user: "From 2002 to 2004, he had problems that caused a nervous breakdown.
[9] His father and his younger brother insisted that the attack "had nothing to do with religion", stating that Lahouaiej-Bouhlel did not pray and never observed the holy month of Ramadan.
[11] The Times of India described Lahouaiej-Bouhlel as "mentally unstable", with a tumultuous personal life, which included drug use and consumption of violent online content.
[12] Police examination of his phone revealed what Sky News described as a "string" of relationships with both men and women, including an affair with a 73-year-old man.
Investigators found photos of dead bodies and images linked to radical Islamism on his computer, including the flag of the Islamic State; the cover of an issue of the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, which had been attacked by gunmen in January 2015; and photos of Osama bin Laden and Algerian jihadist Mokhtar Belmokhtar.
[28] The newspaper Nice-Matin published an interview with an eyewitness who recounted hearing "Allahu Akbar" ("God is greatest") during the attack from his balcony,[29] with similar reports being circulated by other news organizations[30] and on social media.
[27] The Guardian noted that his lack of religious piety is typical for the French and Belgian subjects involved in terrorist rampages earlier in 2016.
[40] According to authorities, Bouhlel watched many ISIS beheading videos and did in-depth research on Omar Mateen, perpetrator of the Orlando nightclub shooting.
[41] After the attack, newspapers reported — on the authority of unspecified investigators — that evidence found on Lahouaiej-Bouhlel's cellphone showed he may have been in contact[42][43] with individuals in his neighborhood, who were known to the French intelligence agencies as Islamic radicals.
It cited an "insider source", which said Lahouaiej-Bouhlel "executed the operation in response to calls to target citizens of coalition nations, which fight the Islamic State".
[50][51] Later that same day, ISIL's official al-Bayan radio station said Lahouaiej-Bouhlel had executed a "new, special operation using a truck" and "the crusader countries know that no matter how much they enforce their security measures and procedures, it will not stop the mujahideen from striking.