Malia Obama, the elder daughter of former U.S. President Barack Obama, was secretly evacuated from France hours after the 2016 Nice terror attack, it has emerged. The then-18-year-old was on holiday in Antibes, near Nice, celebrating her birthday when a Tunisian Islamist drove a truck into crowds watching Bastille Day fireworks.
US Secret Service agents and French police orchestrated the evacuation around 2 a.m. on July 14, 2016, two days after the attack which killed 86 people. Malia Obama and her friends were taken to the airport for a flight back to the United States.
The decision to evacuate was made after three men of Iraqi origin, who had recently obtained Danish citizenship, were spotted acting suspiciously near the Royal Antibes hotel where Malia Obama was staying. The men, in their 20s, were detained by police but later released without charge after investigations determined they were not connected to the attack.
Laurent Alcaraz, a French police officer involved in the operation, told the French newspaper Nice-Matin that American security personnel requested his assistance. He stated that approximately ten Americans were waiting for him at the hotel and indicated they were leaving within 30 minutes. Alcaraz described managing the route to ensure their safe and sound arrival at the airport, a process that included driving directly onto the tarmac.
The evacuation operation was kept confidential and has only come to light following the tenth anniversary of the Nice attack. Malia Obama had been staying at the hotel under the codename D-POTUS, according to reports. The three detained brothers had traveled to Nice in a rental car registered in Sweden.
The terror attack in Nice occurred when Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel drove a 19-tonne truck along the Promenade des Anglais, hitting pedestrians watching the Bastille Day fireworks. The driver, identified as a drug-fueled jihadist, was shot dead by police at the scene. His vehicle was found to contain a cache of weapons, including hand grenades. The attack resulted in 86 deaths and hundreds of injuries.