Nice attacks: Security expert warns of growing threat from 'bedroom terrorists'

‘Insidious’ recruitment techniques used by Isis are challenge for intelligence agencies, says security expert Will Geddes

Isis's use of remote recruitment makes radicalisation difficult for security services to detect (iStock)

The Nice lorry attack that has left 84 dead could have been carried out by a “bedroom terrorist” who was “inspired” by Isis, rather than organised by the group directly, intelligence experts have said.

No extremist group has yet come forward to claim responsibility for the attack, but the Isis press agency Amaq has told supporters to “await” confirmation it was behind the massacre.

Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel, 31, who had dual French-Tunisian nationality and was a resident of Nice, has been identified as the man who carried out the attacks.

He was known to French police for petty crimes including theft and violence, but had not been connected with any terrorist activity and was not on intelligence service watch lists.

The rise of so-called “bedroom terrorists” is a growing threat to intelligence services, and one which Isis has capitalised on, said Will Geddes, a security specialist.

Speaking to BBC Radio 5 Live, Mr Geddes said: “It’s all part of the very clever and insidious means of recruitment that Islamic extremists are currently using.

“They keep the network of those in the know about planning an attack limited, and they’re appealing to the disenchanted and even those with mental illness… That community is much more susceptible to this insidious recruitment remotely.

“The situation we used to have to deal with was where individuals would go to a training camp in Afghanistan or in Pakistan or in Iraq.

“These are what I would call the bedroom terrorists, who have been remotely recruited, and thus makes it incredibly difficult for the intelligence agencies to detect.

Mr Geddes said the attack appeared to be from a single individual rather than a co-ordinated attack such as the Ataturk airport massacre in which three gunmen stormed the building.

He said: “My speculation on this, and it is speculation, is that compared to the Istanbul airport attack or the Brussels attack or the Paris attack for that matter, where there was a larger group of individuals who were highly motivated, well equipped, well-resourced and well planned, that the attack we saw in Nice last night was probably a disenchanted individual who was more inspired than they were directly instructed through a chain of command.

“We’re seeing a very different model to the hierarchy of Islamic State now than what we conventionally used to see with al-Qaeda, which had very clear routes and channels of communication.”