Hollande defends minister under fire over Nice attack

French President Francois Hollande today defended his government from accusations it relaxed its anti-terror defences after the Euro championships, announcing further support for the fight against the Islamic State group.
Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve has been the lightning rod for accusations that authorities dropped their guard after the June 10-July 10 football tournament, leaving the Bastille Day celebrations targeted in last week's massacre in Nice exposed.
Five suspects have been formally charged over the July 14 truck attack in the French Riveria city that killed 84 people.
Hollande said Cazeneuve, who has shrugged off opposition calls to resign, had his "full confidence" and announced he would ship weapons to Iraqi forces fighting the Islamic State (IS) group which claimed the attack.

"I took the decision as part of the anti-Daesh coalition to make weapons available to Iraqi forces," Hollande said after a meeting of key ministers and security chiefs, using another name for IS.
"They will be there next month," he added.

An aide to the president said the weaponry would include artillery batteries and that France -- a member of the US-led anti-IS coalition -- would also send military advisors to train Iraqi forces in using the arms.
Eight days after Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel rammed a lorry into crowds enjoying a firework display on Nice's seafront promenade, 12 people are still fighting for their lives in hospital, Hollande said.

The Nice assault was the third major attack on French soil in the past 18 months, after the jihadist carnage in Paris in November and the shootings at a satirical magazine and kosher supermarket in January 2015.
IS has claimed Bouhlel, a Tunisian national, as one of its "soldiers" but given no proof of his affiliation. The group threatened further attacks in a video this week.
Cazeneuve has launched an investigation into potential security oversights.
The Liberation newspaper reported yesterday that only one police car was stationed at the entrance to the Nice promenade on the night of the attack.