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France in Shock after Truck Attack in Nice

Bastille Day celebrations in Vancouver as peaceful here as they should have been in Nice.

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World leaders have offered solidarity and condolences to the families of victims even as they condemned the terror attack that saw a man kill more than 80 people in Nice, France, by driving a large truck through a crowd of Bastille Day revelers.

Numerous revellers fled into the sea as the truck bore down for more than a mile along the Riviera city’s famed waterfront promenade.

France’s state of emergency was to be lifted later this month, but Hollande said that after yesterday’s attack, it will be extended by another three months. Assailants are bringing chaos into the heart of the European Union, claiming their acts are to seek revenge for the coalition vow to destroy Islamic State in Syria and Iraq.

USA Today says there are conflicting reports in the French media on Bouhlel’s marital status.

In Paris, French Prime Minister Manuel Valls set three days of official mourning. He said a handgun was found inside the truck, along with multiple fake guns and a fake grenade.

2200: A fireworks display attended by some 30,000 locals and tourists, including many children, begins near a tourist office on the Promenade des Anglais, a wide boulevard lined with palm trees and vast walking areas on the water’s edge that was closed to traffic for the occasion.

French investigating police conduct a search for clues around a truck, the day after a heavy a truck ran into a crowd at high speed killing scores and injuring more who were celebrating the Bastille Day national holiday. It’s unclear whether he had an accomplice, authorities said Friday morning.

The attack, which came eight months and a day after Islamic State gunmen and suicide bombers struck Paris on a festive Friday evening, seemed so far to be the work of a lone assailant.

“France as a whole is under the threat of Islamic terrorism”.

French President François Hollande said Friday at least 50 people were in critical condition, “between life and death”, after he visited some of the victims at a hospital in Nice. The witness said the driver mowed people down, accelerating as he hit them. “The times have changed, and France is going to have to live with terrorism”.

A developing situation out of the city of Nice in France.

On behalf of the American people, I condemn in the strongest terms what appears to be a horrific terrorist attack in Nice, France, which killed and wounded dozens of innocent civilians.

President Francois Hollande described it as a “terrorist” attack, although no group has yet claimed responsibility.

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Dramatic video footage showed police surrounding the heavily damaged truck and firing through the windscreen to kill the attacker.

FILE Nice Airport Nice France