Four men and one woman have appeared in court in France charged with terror offences in relation to last week’s lorry attack in Nice.
The five, aged between 22 and 40 and of French, Tunisian and Albanian nationality, are accused of helping the lorry driver Mohamed Lahouaiej-Bouhlel prepare the Bastille Day attack which killed 84 people and injured more than 300.
Prosecutors claim the killer was given logistical support from the suspects and had been planning the attack at the French Riviera resort for several months.
Searches and photographs on his phone suggested he had been planning it since as far back as 2015.
Police had previously believed Lahouaiej-Bouhlel had acted alone.
The so-called Islamic State group said Lahouaiej-Bouhlel was one of its ‘soldiers’ but the driver had not been known to intelligence forces.
The Nice attack was the third major terror attack in France 18 months and has led to widespread criticism of the government’s failure to tighten security.
France has extended its state of emergency until the end of January 2017.
