Investigators look into message sent by Nice perpetrator before the attack

Tunisian-French national Mohamed Lahouaiej-Bouhlel, 31, wrote of his “satisfaction at having obtained a 7.65mm pistol” and discussed the supply of other weapons, a police source confirmed to the news agency AFP.

A pistol, two replica assault rifles and a dummy grenade were found in the truck.

It also emerged that Lahouaiej-Bouhlel took pictures of himself at the wheel of the truck before the attack and shared them by text message.

According to the Guardian, more than 200 investigators are working on identifying the recipients of the messages. Police are working to establish whether Lahouaiej-Bouhlel had been in contact with jihadis, or had accomplices. The French interior minister said had been “radicalised very quickly” and had not been on intelligence files.

On Saturday, Daesh claimed the attack, but there has been no evidence yet linking him to the group.

French investigators are also reportedly looking at the level of preparation undertaken by Lahouaiej-Bouhlel after it emerged that he was seen by CCTV cameras on Nice’s seafront Promenade des Anglais twice in the two days before the attack.

Six people are said to be held for questioning over the attack, among them a 38-year-old Albanian who was arrested on Sunday morning on suspicion of supplying the pistol that Lahouaiej-Bouhlel used to shoot at police.

 “That last day he said he was in Nice with his European friends to celebrate the national holiday,” Lahouaiej-Bouhlel’s brother Jabeur said from Tunisia.

Following the attack in Nice, 85 people are still in hospital, 18 of them – including one child – in a critical condition. One of the dead has yet to be identified.

As the government faces mounting criticism from right-wing opposition groups over its security policy, the prime minister, Manuel Valls, said new attacks would occur as France faced a long-term issue of terrorism.

“I’ve always told the truth regarding terrorism: there is an on-going war, there will be more attacks. It’s difficult to say, but other lives will be lost,” he said, adding that it was important to respect the “state of law”.

Valls warned against Donald Trump-style proposals such as restricting Muslims’ entry. “The response to Daesh cannot be the Trump-isation of our state of mind,” he told Le Journal du Dimanche.

The Promenade des Anglais reopened on Sunday as people returned to Nice’s beaches and cafes. Police officers had kept watch on Saturday night as tourists returned to the scene of the atrocity, walking past flowers, cards and messages of solidarity left in tribute to the victims.