About 50 people are critically hurt as a result of Thursday’s deadly terrorist attack in Nice, French President Francois Hollande said Friday.
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“Our prayers are with the people of Nice”.
In New Delhi, French Ambassador Alexandre Ziegler said “This insane attack took place on our national day, Bastille day, a day that celebrates, all over France, the values and the messages inherited from the French Revolution: the values of democracy, freedom, tolerance and human rights. It’s all of France that is under threat from Islamic terrorism”.
The children’s hospital in Nice said it has treated about 50 youngsters injured in the attack, including two who died during or after surgery.
The attack is the third major strike against France in less than 18 months and prosecutors said anti-terrorist investigators would handle the probe. The embassy, which is to hold a minute of silence later on Friday to honor the dead, has thanked the Russians for their support.
Tributes have been pouring in from across the world for the 84 people killed in a horror terror attack in Nice yesterday.
European Council President Donald Tusk condemned the attack, saying “it’s a tragic paradox that the subject of this attack were people celebrating liberty, equality and fraternity”.
United Arab Emirates Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed al-Nahyan said: “This heinous terrorist crime makes it imperative for all to work decisively and without hesitation to counter terrorism in all its forms and manifestations”.
“Every indication is that this has the hallmarks of a terrorist attack”, she said, as France extended its state of emergency for another three months. The attacker used a 7.65 mm pistol to shoot at the police and the crowd, and the refrigerated truck he drove into the crowd was filled with explosives.
Writing online, Nice Matin journalist Damien Allemand who was at the waterside said the fireworks display had finished and the crowd had got up to leave when they heard a noise and cries.
At a beachside restaurant in Nice, France, Eric Drattell and his wife were relaxing after a fireworks show when a white truck began speeding down the promenade, mowing people down.
The man had opened fire on the crowd, local government chief Christian Estrosi told BFM TV, and weapons and grenades were found inside the truck after he was killed. “I saw bodies flying like bowling pins along its route”.
It was the third major attack in France since the start of previous year, following the January 2015 attacks on satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo and a kosher grocery store in Paris, and the November 2015 incident at the city’s Bataclan concert hall.
There are 880 New Zealanders registered as living in France though the actual number is believed to be much higher.
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The driver was seen shooting from the window of the truck as he smashed into people.
