Islamic State claims responsibility for the Nice attack but a direct link between the suspect and the terrorist group is yet to emerge.
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Six people are in custody in the probe into the attack, including one who Bouhlel sent a text message to minutes before the attack, asking for more weapons, Molins said.
Update 10.35 am: The man who drove a truck into a crowd in the French city of Nice is a “soldier” of Islamic State, the group’s media outlet said.
“That last day he said he was in Nice with his European friends to celebrate the national holiday”, Jabeur said, adding that in the photo “he seemed very happy and pleased, he was laughing a lot”.
The country has been in a state of emergency since November with heightened security, but the Nice carnage showed how vulnerable it remains to an attack by what appeared to be a determined individual.
While authorities have said little publicly about their investigation, a French security official told The Associated Press on Sunday that Bouhlel sold his auto just before the attack, which ended only when he was killed by police.
France, which has a Muslim population of almost five million, is also the origin of hundreds of jihadists who have flocked to fight alongside IS.
According to Molins, the attacker drank alcohol, ate pork, took drugs and engaged in “unbridled sexual activity”.
But government spokesman Stephane Le Foll slammed Juppe’s comments, saying there was as much security present for the fireworks display as there had been for the Euro 2016 football tournament in the city.
He said: “We are a bit wary of bomb attacks so we are used to the security”.
Paris prosecutor Francois Molins said the attack bore the hallmarks of jihadist terrorism.
The arrests, which came on top of two on Friday including the attacker’s wife, concerned the attacker’s “close entourage”, the sources said.
The statement did not name the attacker, and the language implied that he may have acted independently.
In September 2014, IS spokesman Abu Mohammed al-Adnani, suggested supporters “run (infidels) over with your car”. That is a different form of terrorism to what happened in Paris and Brussels. His father, in Tunisia, said his son did not pray or fast for Ramadan, the Muslim holy month.
“From 2002 to 2004, he had problems that caused a nervous breakdown”.
One former neighbour, who also asked not to be named, described him as violent man who had lashed out after his wife requested a divorce.
Brigitte Erbibou, a psychologist who has long worked in Nice, said Bouhlel’s reported lack of religious conviction may not have precluded a sudden embrace of extremism, noting that people who have resorted to violence in the past can apply that instinct in other situations.
In Nice, the seaside streets that would normally be bustling on a summer weekend were near-deserted, with teary residents making their way to the promenade to lay down flowers in memory of the dead.
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Feelings are raw. numerous dead and injured were children watching a fireworks display with their families, and a sign posted around town demonstrates a strong feeling of solidarity, calling for blood donations and stuffed animals for injured children.
