ISIS

The YPG said Levi Jonathan Shirley, a volunteer also known as Agir Servan, died on July 14 in Manbij, an ISIS-held city in northern Syria.

"The person who carried out the operation in Nice, France, to run down people was one of the soldiers of Islamic State," the news agency Amaq, which supports the militant Islamist group, said via its Telegram account.

"He carried out the operation in response to calls to target nationals of states that are part of the coalition fighting Islamic State."

The Amaq news agency said Shishani was killed in combat in the town of Shirqat, south of Mosul in Iraq.

The Pentagon said in March he had died from injuries sustained in a US air strike in north-eastern Syria.

Shishani's real name was Tarkhan Batirashvili but he was also known as Omar the Chechen.

The red-bearded jihadist was said to be a close military adviser to Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

The confirmation came on the Amaq website, which IS regularly uses to issue news and which had denied the Pentagon's claims in March.

Turkey has declared three days of national mourning over the suicide bombings which claimed the lives of 41 people and injured 239 more.

Forty-one people remain in intensive care from the attack which happened on Tuesday night (local time).

Five Saudis and two Iraqis were among the dead, a Turkish official said. Citizens from China, Jordan, Tunisia, Uzbekistan, Iran and Ukraine were also among the 13 foreigners killed.

Among those buried were victims Siddik Turgan and Mustafa Biyikli, who were mourned at funerals in Istanbul on Wednesday.

Americans were united in grief, outrage and "resolve to defend our people", he said.

Omar Mateen, 29, killed 50 people and wounded 53 at the Pulse club before being shot dead by police.

The so-called Islamic State group has said it was behind the attack, but the extent of its involvement is not clear.

A statement on its affiliated Amaq news agency said that an IS "fighter" was responsible.

NBC News reported that Mateen had called the emergency services before the attack and swore allegiance to IS.