Attack suspect was 'silent, lonely' man: neighbours

Neighbours of the man suspected of killing 84 people in Nice on Thursday have described him as a "silent" and "lonely" man.

Police sources have named Mohammed Lahouaiej Bouhlel, a 31-year-old man born in Tunisia and resident in Nice, as the attacker who was shot dead by police after ploughing his truck through crowds of revellers for two kilometres.

Reporters from the French state news agency interviewed a dozen people who lived around his apartment, which was searched by police on Friday morning after identity papers found in the cab of the truck gave his name.

His next-door neighbour said they had spoken only once, while a second said she had seen Bouhlel - who in March was convicted of an offence relating to domestic violence - "staring" at her daughters.