Preliminary charges in France attack expected Thursday

Preliminary charges are expected to be filed against five people detained in the aftermath of last week’s terror attack in Nice, France, after a French anti-terror prosecutor recommended charges, The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday.

All five were in contact with Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel in the days before the attack, investigators said. The 31-year-old Tunisian barreled through Bastille Day crowds in a rental truck, killing 84 and wounding dozens more before being killed by police. 

{mosads}Investigative magistrates will meet with all five suspects and make a final decision on whether to file preliminary charges later Thursday, a spokesperson for prosecutor François Molins told The Journal.

Two of the suspects, who are Albanian nationals, are suspected to have provided Bouhlel with the pistol that he fired at police as he drove through the crowds.

Under French law, police can detain suspects for up to 112 hours without filing any charges.

The Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) has claimed responsibility for the attack, but investigators have so far not found any direct links between Bouhlel and the terror group.