Barack Obama's daughter was secretly evacuated from France hours after the Nice terror attack when three Iraqi men were spotted acting 'suspiciously' near her hotel room, it has emerged. 

Malia Obama, now 28, was spirited to safety by US Secret Service agents and French police at around 2am on July 14, 2016. 

She had been on holiday in Antibes celebrating her 18th birthday when a Tunisian Islamist drove a 19-tonne truck into crowds watching the Bastille Day fireworks in nearby Nice, killing 86 people. 

Three hours later, police detained three brothers who had been loitering outside the Royal Antibes hotel - where Malia had been staying with a group of friends. 

It was feared that the suspects, aged in their 20s, may have been involved in the terrorist attack.

And while Malia had been due to leave France the following morning, the decision was made to evacuate her from the country that night. 

Laurent Alcaraz, a French police officer who led the operation, told the Nice-Matin newspaper: 'About ten Americans were waiting for me when I arrived in front of the hotel.

'They said: "We're leaving in 30 minutes".'

Malia and her friends were taken to the airport by a convoy of three police cars and Secret Service vehicles. A plane was waiting to fly them back to the United States.  

'The Americans let me take charge of the route,' he added. 

'I handled it as I saw fit and we got there safe and sound. It was the first time I had driven right onto the tarmac.' 

The evacuation operation was kept secret and has only been revealed in the French media following the tenth anniversary of the attack. 

According to the reports, Malia was staying at the hotel under the codename D-POTUS. 

The three Iraqis, who had recently obtained Danish citizenship, were questioned by officers from the Directorate General for Internal Security - the equivalent of MI5. 

The brothers had travelled to Nice in a rental car, which was registered in Sweden. 

Despite being held in custody for 48 hours, they were released without charge after it was established they were not connected to the terrorist attack. 

Videos from the scene showed a lorry mowing down a crowd of terrified pedestrians who had gathered to watch the Bastille Day fireworks. 

The vehicle was travelling at roughly 40mph along Nice's Promenade des Anglais and killed 86 people, injuring hundreds more. 

A cache of weapons including hand grenades was later discovered inside the lorry.

Kartik Bhanot, 26, from Essex, said at first he thought it was a drunk driver.

But then he saw the lorry 'flipping' people in the air as it went, leaving 'swathes' of bodies lying by the road.

He said: 'Suddenly as we crossed the junction, we heard screams and loud bangs. I looked for my mum and she was sprinting away.

'I looked back and saw on my left this huge lorry about five to ten yards from me. It was ploughing through people. I saw bodies flipped.' 

The driver, now known to be drug-fuelled jihadist Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel, screamed 'Allahu Akbar' as he mowed down his victims.

He was shot dead at the scene.