Nice attacker had ‘clear, recent’ interest in radical Islam

On Monday, Cazeneuve said any link between Bouhlel and the Islamic State (ISIS) had “yet to be established” although ISIS was quick to claim that it was responsible for the attack.

Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel, a 31-year-old delivery driver, was shot dead by police on Thursday night after careering along a packed sea-front promenade in Nice for about 2km, zigzagging in order to run over as many victims as possible.

Lahouaiej-Bouhlel rented the 19-tonne truck used in the attack on 4 July and drove to the Promenade des Anglais twice in the days before the attack, Mr Molins said.

Several people, among hundreds who have been questioned, said Bouhlel showed signs of being religious, according to a judicial source.

“It’s awful to say but we need a stronger prime minister with laws against radicalism”, Isabel said.

Five suspects held in custody in relation to the Nice attack are being handed to investigating judges in Paris on Thursday.

French President Francois Hollande said the attack is of an “undeniable terrorist nature”, calling on the French operational reservists, with or without military training, to boost the ranks of the country’s police force.

Sadok Bouhlel said his nephew’s family problems – he was estranged from his wife and three children – meant the Algerian extremist “found in Mohamed an easy prey for recruitment”. The main roadblock at the start of the promenade was manned by six national police officers, who were “the first to confront the deadly lorry”, he said, adding that two national police cars were stationed there.

“Even if these words are hard to say, it’s my duty to do so: there will be other attacks and there will be other innocent people killed”, he said.

It alleges that the attacker was responding to its calls to target citizens of countries in the coalition fighting ISIS.

France’s health minister, Marisol Touraine, was visiting Nice on Sunday. “So we must still be prudent with what we say on that subject”.

Many are also angry at French police and authorities for not preventing the deadly attack, even though France was under a state of emergency imposed after Daesh attacks a year ago in Paris.

He was also found to have researched last month’s terror attack on a gay nightclub in Orlando that left 49 dead, and an attack in the Paris suburb of Magnanville – where a police couple were killed.