Eight arrested over Bastille Day attack in Nice

French police have arrested eight people linked to the driver who ploughed a truck into a Bastille Day crowd in Nice, killing 86 people.

An investigation source told AFP: "They are associates of the perpetrator. We are carrying out checks and they are in custody."

The men, reported to be of French and Tunisian nationality, were arrested in Nice and in the neighbouring towns of Saint-Laurent-du-Var and Cagnes-sur-Mer.

Police were also searching properties on Tuesday, the source said.

On July 14, Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel, a 31-year-old Tunisian, drove a 19-tonne truck through a crowd of more than 30,000 revellers gathered on the seafront Promenade des Anglais.

He was shot dead by police.

The Islamic State group claimed he was one of its followers.

Bouhlel was initially thought to have planned the attack alone but anti-terror investigators later said he had received help from several people and had spent several months plotting it.

Six people have already been charged over the attack, which also injured 434 people.