At least 80 people have been reported dead after a truck containing arms and grenades drove into a crowd of people out celebrating Bastille Day in the French City of Nice on Thursday night, in what has now been categorized as a terrorist attack.
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Hollande recommended that an existing state of emergency, put in place in the wake of the Paris attacks in November 2015 and due to expire later this month, be extended for three further months.
US President Barack Obama condemned “in the strongest terms what appears to be a horrific terrorist attack in Nice”, the White House said.
French President Hollande says the truck attack in Nice was a of a “terrorist character”.
On Twitter, many are calling it a terror attack, however it is not yet clear who the perpetrator, who was shot dead, is.
The president of the Provence Alpes Cote d’Azur regional council, Christian Estrosi, said at least 60 people were killed.
In a statement, Mr Turnbull said he had already spoken with Governor-General Sir Peter Cosgrove, who is now in France with the Australian and New Zealand servicemen and women featured in the Bastille Day parade in Paris. Photos from the scene show a truck with damage to the front end and what appears to be multiple bullet holes in its windshield.
Bastille Day is a French holiday that commemorates the Storming of the Bastille, a crucial event in the French Revolution, and thousands were gathered on Nice’s promenade when the attack occurred.
Former CIA caseworker Bob Baer tells CNN the attack was “almost definitely” a terror attack.
Police told NBC they were aware of an incident but were still investigating.
The French president vowed his country would continue its fight against terrorism.
Singers, actors, and comedians all gave their condolences to the victims and survivors of the absolutely horrendous July 14 attack in France – an incident whose upsetting details are still pouring out in droves.
– January 7-9, 2015: A gun assault on the Paris offices of the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo and an attack on a kosher grocery store kills 17 people.
In an account posted on the Medium website, Damien Allemand, a reporter for the local newspaper Nice Matin, said he “saw bodies flying like bowling pins” as the vehicle raced forward.
A number of people celebrating Bastille Day in southeast France were killed and injured Thursday when a truck crashed into a crowd in the town of Nice, apparently on objective, authorities said. “We’ve also seen these kinds of attacks in Israel”. “Heard sounds, howls that I will never forget”, he wrote.
Eric Ciotti said on BFM TV that police killed the driver “apparently after an exchange of gunfire”.
“There was carnage on the road”, Bouhlel said, “bodies everywhere”. He saw people run to shelter.
The attacker struck after a day of military pomp and ceremony in Paris – where armed forces, tanks and fighter jets swooped down the Champs Elysees avenue – and spectacular firework displays.
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Clinton had yet to make an official comment on the attack.
