Two arrested as details emerge about Bastille Day massacre

Mohamed Lahouaiej-Bouhlel visited the Nice promenade with his rented truck on the two days before he smashed the vehicle into a crowd of people watching Bastille Day fireworks in the French Riviera city on Thursday night, according to a source close to the probe. Mangled bodies were left strewn across the storied seafront, including children, in the grisly attack by a man described by those who knew him as a loner with tendencies towards violence.

While some family and friends had described the 31-year-old as someone who smoked, drank and never went to the mosque, others questioned by police indicated “a recent swing to radical Islam”, said a police source.

But, there has been no overt evidence linking him to the Islamic State group, which yesterday claimed the attack. In Nice, many people were still desperately looking for news of their loved ones among the dead and 121 still hospitalised. “We have no news, neither good nor bad,” said Lithuanian Johanna, who was looking for two friends.