French Police Detain Five People in Investigation Into Attack in Nice

In all, 85 people are still hospitalized after the attack, 18 of them in critical condition.

A spokeswoman for the city’s paediatric hospital said 16 bodies had not yet been identified. “It’s not only shame it’s also fear, to tell people that we’re Tunisian”. The identities of four of them were not known, but neighbors told The Associated Press that Bouhlel’s estranged wife had been taken away Friday by police.

Bouhel was married with three children but it was reported that he and his wife were going through divorce proceedings.

“It was hard, but she did it”, Garino said, adding, “she was no longer in contact with him”.

French police today arrested a man and a woman believed to be linked to Bouhlel – bring the total number of those now being held to six.

The 31-year old Tunisian, who lived locally, drove at a Bastille Day crowd on the waterfront of the French Riviera city on Thursday night. He said he had asked for police to be reinforced in Nice ahead of the fireworks display but was told there was no need.

“Investigators still have not discovered a direct link between Islamic State and the attacker, so it is a cheap claim”, he said.

IS claimed responsibility for the killings, saying that one of its “soldiers” carried out the attack “in response to calls to target nations of coalition states that are fighting [IS]”. He made similar statements after attacks in January 2015 at a kosher supermarket in Paris and the Charlie Hebdo newspaper that killed 17, and again after the November 13 attacks in Paris on a rock concert, the national stadium and cafes that killed 130.

A BBC correspondent in Nice says the beaches and cafes are busy and the promenade has been re-opened.

Former neighbours and relatives there expressed shock at the Nice attack, describing Bouhlel as sporty, uninterested in religion and from a regular family.

But French authorities believe that something may have changed.

“The investigation will establish the facts, but we know now that the killer was radicalized very quickly, ” Valls said in remarks published on Sunday, Reuters reports.

About 30,000 people were on the Promenade des Anglais at the time of the attack on Thursday night.

After Bouhlel was shot, police found a handgun and some ammunition in the truck’s cab, as well as a replica handgun, two replica assault rifles, a cell phone and various documents, Molins said. Some areas are still stained by blood.

Joggers, bikers and sunbathers cruised down the pedestrian walkway along the glistening Mediterranean Sea on Sunday, where well-wishers placed flowers, French flags, stuffed animals and candles for the victims.

The French interior minister called on “all patriotic citizens” to become reservists to boost security in the wake of the attack.

People who went to the same gym as Lahouaiej-Bouhlel, described him as “conceited” and someone who “would flirt with anything that moved”.

The psychiatrist, Chemceddine Hamouda, said Bouhlel’s parents brought him to his clinic in Msaken in August 2004.

Many family members have been frustrated by a lack of information about their missing loved ones.

The country will now observe three days of mourning starting Saturday.

A total of 303 people were taken to hospital following the attacks, the French health department said on Saturday.