France's interior minister has acknowledged there were no national police stationed at the entrance to the pedestrianised walkway in Nice where the Bastille Day truck attack that left 84 people dead occurred.
In what represents a backtracking from his previous claim that there was, Bernard Cazeneuve said local police, who are more lightly armed, were guarding the entrance to the area where Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel drove his truck.
In a speech two days after the attack, Mr Cazeneuve said "national police were present and very present on the Promenade des Anglais", and suggested that their cars were blocking the walkway entrance.
Mr Cazeneuve also launched an internal police investigation into the handling of the attack, the results of which will be published next week.
French President Francois Hollande has pledged that any police shortfalls will be addressed, saying "there's no room for polemics, there's only room for transparency".
It comes after French newspaper Liberation claimed Mr Cazeneuve lied about the whereabouts of the national police officers and cars, and accused French authorities of lacking transparency.
Using witness statements and photos in yesterday's edition, Liberation claimed only one local police car was stationed at the entrance to the walkway.
In a statement, Mr Cazeneuve accused the paper of conspiracy theories and maintained that several "heroic" national police – who killed the attacker after an exchange of fire – were stationed further down the promenade.
Meanwhile, five suspects held in custody in relation to the attack are being handed to investigating judges in Paris who are expected to file preliminary charges against them.
French authorities have been looking for possible accomplices to Bouhlel.
