Nice attacker's link to Islamic State puzzles investigators

There is no evidence linking the truck driver who killed 84 people in Nice with the Islamic State despite the group's claim that the attacker was a "soldier" for the organization, France's interior minister said Monday.

Bernard Cazeneuve told France's RTL radio that while Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel, a Tunisian living in Nice, may have been inspired by the terrorist network any "links for now have not been established by the investigation.”

Cazeneuve said 59 people remain hospitalized after the attack Thursday, 29 of them in intensive care. More than 300 people were injured overall. France held a national moment of silence Monday for the attack's victims.

Thousands gathered on a beachfront in Nice near where the attack occurred. French Prime Minister Manuel Valls was booed as he signed a book of condolence at the memorial service.

The French government has come under pressure for failing to thwart the third major attack on French soil in the past 18 months.

Meanwhile, Bouhlel's uncle told the Associated Press that his nephew was indoctrinated about two weeks ago by an Algerian member of the Islamic State in Nice, a claim French investigators say they are not able to confirm. His apparent radicalization has puzzled investigators as well as friends and family.

“Mohamed didn’t pray, didn’t go to the mosque and ate pork,” Sadok Bouhlel, a 69-year-old retired teacher in the attacker's hometown of Msaken, Tunisia, told the AP. The uncle said he learned about the Algerian recruiter from extended family members who live in Nice.