<div>Mohamed Lahouaiej-Bouhlel was a petty criminal prone to depression and violence who smoked, drank and never went to the mosque, according to neighbours and family.<br /><br />The Tunisian delivery driver, who on Thursday evening smashed a 19-tonne lorry into a crowd killing 84 people, including 10 children, had shown no overt signs of radicalistaion.<br /><br />The Islamic State group, in claiming the attack today, said he was a "soldier" who had responded to "calls to target nations of coalition states that are fighting (IS)".<br /><br />But authorities said he had not been flagged for links to radical Islamic ideology. The 31-year-old "seemed to have been radicalised very quickly from what his friends and family" have told police, French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said today.<br /><br />Speaking outside his home in Msaken, eastern Tunisia, the attacker's father said he had suffered from depression and had "no links" to religion.<br /><br />"From 2002 to 2004, he had problems that caused a nervous breakdown. He would become angry and he shouted... he would break anything he saw in front of him," Mohamed Mondher Lahouaiej-Bouhlel said.<br /><br />"We are also shocked," he said, adding that he had not seen his son since he left for France but was not entirely sure when this was.<br /><br />"He didn't pray, he didn't fast, he drank alcohol," his father said. "He even took drugs."<br /><br />After Thursday's attack on people who had just enjoyed a Bastille Day fireworks display on Nice seafront, his neighbours in a working-class neighbourhood of the city told AFP they had little to do with him.<br /><br />They portrayed him as a solitary figure who rarely spoke and did not return greetings when their paths crossed.<br /><br />One neighbour in his four-storey block said she had concerns about him, describing him as "a good-looking man who kept giving my two daughters the eye".<br /><br />However, another said she had become friendly with him after they struck up a conversation one day in the stairwell when he was looking to buy some cigarettes.<br /><br />According to her he was teetotal and refused to drink a glass of wine with her, saying: "No, I don't drink."<br /><br />The woman, who spoke on condition of anonymity, also said he asked to rent her letter box from her.<div><br />"I don't know why. I found it strange, quite frankly," she said, adding that she turned down his request.<br /><br />Lahouaiej-Bouhlel was often seen drinking beer and never attended the small mosque near his home, other residents of his home district told AFP. <br /></div></div>
<div>Mohamed Lahouaiej-Bouhlel was a petty criminal prone to depression and violence who smoked, drank and never went to the mosque, according to neighbours and family.<br /><br />The Tunisian delivery driver, who on Thursday evening smashed a 19-tonne lorry into a crowd killing 84 people, including 10 children, had shown no overt signs of radicalistaion.<br /><br />The Islamic State group, in claiming the attack today, said he was a "soldier" who had responded to "calls to target nations of coalition states that are fighting (IS)".<br /><br />But authorities said he had not been flagged for links to radical Islamic ideology. The 31-year-old "seemed to have been radicalised very quickly from what his friends and family" have told police, French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said today.<br /><br />Speaking outside his home in Msaken, eastern Tunisia, the attacker's father said he had suffered from depression and had "no links" to religion.<br /><br />"From 2002 to 2004, he had problems that caused a nervous breakdown. He would become angry and he shouted... he would break anything he saw in front of him," Mohamed Mondher Lahouaiej-Bouhlel said.<br /><br />"We are also shocked," he said, adding that he had not seen his son since he left for France but was not entirely sure when this was.<br /><br />"He didn't pray, he didn't fast, he drank alcohol," his father said. "He even took drugs."<br /><br />After Thursday's attack on people who had just enjoyed a Bastille Day fireworks display on Nice seafront, his neighbours in a working-class neighbourhood of the city told AFP they had little to do with him.<br /><br />They portrayed him as a solitary figure who rarely spoke and did not return greetings when their paths crossed.<br /><br />One neighbour in his four-storey block said she had concerns about him, describing him as "a good-looking man who kept giving my two daughters the eye".<br /><br />However, another said she had become friendly with him after they struck up a conversation one day in the stairwell when he was looking to buy some cigarettes.<br /><br />According to her he was teetotal and refused to drink a glass of wine with her, saying: "No, I don't drink."<br /><br />The woman, who spoke on condition of anonymity, also said he asked to rent her letter box from her.<div><br />"I don't know why. I found it strange, quite frankly," she said, adding that she turned down his request.<br /><br />Lahouaiej-Bouhlel was often seen drinking beer and never attended the small mosque near his home, other residents of his home district told AFP. <br /></div></div>