Attack on Nice: Five held by French police

Hundreds of tributes have been laid on the Promenade des Anglais in Nice

Five people believed to be linked to the man who killed 84 people in Nice are in police custody, the Paris prosecutor's office says.

Three arrests were made on Saturday and two on Friday, including the man's estranged wife, Le Monde reported. Mohamed Lahouaiej-Bouhlel drove a lorry into crowds marking Bastille Day on the Promenade des Anglais on Thursday before he was shot dead by police.

French President Francois Hollande met with his defence and security chiefs

So-called Islamic State claimed one of its followers carried out the attack. A news agency linked to the group, Amaq Agency, said: "He did the attack in response to calls to target the citizens of the coalition that is fighting the Islamic State."

'Extreme difficulty'

French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said Lahouaiej-Bouhlel seemed to have been "radicalised very quickly".

He said the "new type of attack... showed the extreme difficulty of the fight against terrorism".  Prosecutors said Lahouaiej-Bouhlel, a 31-year-old Tunisian, drove the lorry 2km (1.2 miles) along the promenade targeting people.

Of the 84 who died, 10 were children. Some 202 people were injured; 52 are critical, of whom 25 are on life support.

What we know about the attack

• Schofield: What can France expect next?
• Is freedom under threat in France?
• Who were the victims?
• The jihadists of the French Riviera
• Four years of attacks in France
• 'Heartbreaking' image of victim
• Bastille Day attack in pictures
• Tears and sympathy for the victims
• Who was the attacker?

Stephanie Simpson, from the Lenval children's hospital in Nice, said five children remained in critical condition, one was in a "very bad" condition, three were on artificial respiration, one had been stabilised and one eight-year-old child remained unidentified.

Mr Hollande said 50 people were "between life and death", while several people are missing and a "small number" of Britons were injured.