IS publications do not refer to attack in Nice

July 16, 2016 | 11:00

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BEIRUT: Publications issued by the Islamic State militant group on Friday (Jul 15) make no reference to the truck attack in the French city of Nice that killed at least 84 people.

A message reads "I am Nice" placed at a make-shift memorial for victims of the deadly Bastille Day attack in Nice on Jul 15, 2016. (Photo: AFP/Giuseppe Cacace)

Releases by the extremist group or its affiliated Amaq news agency make no mention of the attack which French anti-terrorism prosecutor Francois Molins said was "exactly in line with" calls from militant groups to kill.

Late on Thursday, a Tunisian named as Mohamed Lahouaiej-Bouhlel rammed a truck into a Bastille Day crowd in the coastal French city after a firework display.

French Prime Minister Manuel Valls said the 31-year-old attacker was "probably linked to radical Islam in one way or another", although Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve cautioned that it was too early to confirm such a link.

Lahouaiej-Bouhlel - a resident of Nice - was shot dead by police after the attack in which at least 10 children and teenagers were among the dead.

The IS group, which has controlled large parts of Syria and Iraq since 2014, has claimed several deadly attacks in the past in France, Belgium, the United States and in Arab countries.

Despite IS silence over responsibility for Thursday's killings in Nice, supporters of the jihadist group used internet social networks to hail the attack.

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