Attack in Nice reminds the world of how deadly effective trucks can be when used as weapons

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.

For several years, extremist groups such as Islamic State (IS) and al-Qaeda have exhorted followers via videos or messages to carry out such attacks using whatever comes to hand.

In September 2014, Abu Mohammed al-Adnani, an IS spokesman who Western intelligence agencies have dubbed the group’s “attacks minister”, issued chilling instructions that some have since apparently followed.

“If you cannot [detonate] a bomb or [fire] a bullet, arrange to meet alone with a French or an American infidel and bash his skull in with a rock, slaughter him with a knife, run him over with your car, throw him off a cliff, strangle him, or inject him with poison,” he said.

Brian Jenkins, a counterterrorism expert and senior adviser to the president of Rand Corp, said the danger of truck bombs has existed since the 1980s with attacks in Lebanon but have evolved over time.

“The use of trucks as a weapon [in of themselves] is a more recent scenario,” Jenkins said.

“Al-Qaeda and ISIS have both exhorted their followers to use any means to bring death. With limited ­access to explosives, large vehicles into large crowds are an obvious event.”