However there has been no clear link established to the Islamic State group which claimed the attack, saying Bouhlel was one of its “soldiers”.
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Mr Molins confirmed that the murderous act was clearly premeditated as Bouhlel, pictured inset, had visited the Promenade des Anglais in his truck in the two days leading up to the attack, taking photos. “But one thing he did not get angry about was religion, he did not go to mosque, he drank”, said the father of the 31-year-old. The Local reported Cazeneuve would say only that Bouhlel experienced radicalization.
IS has claimed responsibility for the attack.
More than 200 were injured and 75 remain hospitalized, including 18 in life-threatening condition, Health Minister Marisol Touraine said Sunday.
French authorities have yet to produce evidence that he had turned to radical Islam.
France is also home to Europe’s biggest Muslim population, and has been criticised in some quarters for fostering racial, ethnic and religious disharmony through its strict adherence to a lay culture that allows no place for religion and ethnicity in schools and civic life.
Lahouaiej-Bouhlel reportedly drove through the seafront promenade area of Nice on Tuesday and Wednesday in preparation. Three of the suspects were brought to French intelligence headquarters in Paris yesterday to face eventual terrorism charges, according to a security official.
Hartley said to her knowledge there were no Americans among the missing anymore.
Tension still runs high in France’s southern town of Nice after an attack in which 84 people were killed.
Cazeneuve accused the paper of conspiracy theories and said several “heroic” national police – who killed the attacker after an exchange of fire – were stationed further down the promenade.
An analysis of his browsing history showed that, between July 1 and July 13, he searched for articles on the Orlando massacre, the recent shooting in Dallas, and the killing of two police officers in Magnanville by a man claiming allegiance to IS. Numerous dead and 308 injured were children.
Prime Minister Manuel Valls said there was no doubting the assailant’s motives. Buildings stood silent across the country.
The ministry said the man’s wife and seven-year-old boy who were also wounded in the July 14 attack were doing well at a hospital in Nice and receiving help from the Romanian consulate in Marseille.
A report in the Nice Matin newspaper yesterday said investigators had found no radicalisation material in his flat, but were still looking at his telephone and his computer. Friends and family said he hadn’t been an observant Muslim in the past.
Regardless of whether Bouhlel is proven to have direct links to Islamic State, his profile chimes with the findings of a recent Europol study of foreign militant recruits.
The minute of silence was observed across France at midday on Monday, a now grimly familiar ritual after the third major terror attack in 18 months on French soil.
After a special security meeting, Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said French forces in the U.S-led coalition struck IS targets again overnight and on Saturday. French warplanes have been involved in the operation in Iraq and to a lesser degree in Syria.
Bouhlel, a resident of Nice, had a permit to live and work in France.
The Islamic State group “is encouraging individuals unknown to our services to stage attacks … that is without a doubt the case in the Nice attack”, he said Sunday.
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President Francois Hollande said the conclusions of that investigation will be known next week.
