ISIS claims responsibility for Bastille Day attack in Nice

NICE, France — The Islamic State claimed responsibility Saturday for the attack that killed at least 84 people in this southern French city, as authorities scrambled to determine whether attacker acted on an order from the terrorist group or may have been inspired by its extremist propaganda.

There were reports Saturday that police here had arrested three potential suspects related to Thursday’s night’s attack, which saw a large truck similar to a tractor trailer mow down crowds of people along the main beachfront promenade in this French Riviera city.

The Syria- and Iraq-based group also known as ISIS and ISIL said in a statement Saturday via its formal news agency, Amaq, that the “person who carried out the operation in Nice, France, to run down people was one of the soldiers of Islamic State.”

French and other international news outlets quoted the statement, posted on a Telegram social media account tied Amaq, as saying the attacker “carried out the operation in response to calls to target nationals of states that are part of the coalition fighting Islamic State.”

But the statement made no reference by name to Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel, the 31-year-old dual Tunisian native whom police shot dead here Thursday night and have identified as the driver of the truck that carried out the attack.

Authorities here said they were still examining the ISIS claim of responsibility for the attack, the third major terrorist incident in France in less than two years.