When vehicles become weapons of terror

Transforming a vehicle into a simple but deadly weapon of terror - as happened to such bloody effect in Nice on Thursday - is a tactic well known to intelligence agencies.

A truck smashed into revelers celebrating France’s Bastille Day, killing at least 84 and injuring scores as its ploughed two kilometers through the crowd.

In Israel and the Palestinian territories, car-ramming attacks have featured heavily in a wave of violence that has killed at least 215 Palestinians, 34 Israelis, two Americans, an Eritrean and a Sudanese since October last year.

Western authorities have had to deal with three similar attacks in recent years: two in Britain and another in Canada.

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Israeli rescue teams gather at the scene of an attack in which one person was killed and five others hurt on May 15, 2011 in Tel Aviv when a truck driven by an Arab Israeli ploughed into a bus and several cars. (File photo: AFP)

Police forensics view the remain's of the burnt out jeep being lifted from the scene at Glasgow International Airport, 01 July 2007 where a Jeep Cherokee rammed and burst into flames in a terror attack at Scotland's Glasgow Airport. (AFP)

In May 2013, two extremists smashed their car into British soldier Lee Rigby before attempting to behead him on a London street in broad daylight.

The pair, who were of Nigerian heritage, said they attacked the 25-year-old fusilier to avenge the deaths of Muslims at the hands of British troops.

Just 18 months later, a man claiming to be acting in the name of radicalism ran over and killed Canadian soldier Patrice Vincent, also injuring a second man.

Shortly after, the 25-year-old Muslim convert, Martin Couture-Rouleau, called the police emergency line to dedicate his attack to the “cause of jihad.”

And in June 2007, two men in a burning jeep smashed into the main terminal building at Scotland’s Glasgow Airport. One of the men was jailed for life, with the judge describing him as a “religious extremist”.