A truck ploughed into a crowd in the French resort of Nice yesterday leaving at least 84 dead and scores injured in an attack after a Bastille Day fireworks display, officials said.
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The former President via his twitter handle sympathized with them calling for global unity to combat the menace of terror.
While it’s unclear who was behind the attack in Nice, it occurred on a French national holiday, Bastille Day, largely considered France’s Independence Day.
At least 84 people were killed Thursday night when Bouhlel opened fire on a crowd watching a fireworks show – and then plowed his truck through the throngs of people gathered along the waterfront for the holiday.
Video footage showed the 19-tonne white truck speeding up as it drove into screaming crowds along the Promenade des Anglais while several people tried to chase it on foot.
Addressing the nation after the assault, French President François Hollande said that the assault was of “an undeniable terrorist nature”.
France had been on high alert following last November’s attacks in Paris in which 130 people died and hundreds were wounded.
Some witnesses said the driver was firing a gun at people while driving through. I saw a guy in the street, we were trying to speak to the driver to get him to stop.
Mr. Hollande announced that the state of emergency would be extended by three months and army reservists called up to boost security.
Multiple bullet holes were visible in the truck’s windscreen as police moved in after the carnage.
Reuters said on Friday that the attacker has been identified by a police source as a 31-year-old Tunisian-born Frenchman. “I turned around and behind me was this big truck”, she told Channel Nine.
He reiterated that France is also bolstering its presence in Iraq and Syria, where he said earlier that military advisers would be on the ground to help Iraqis take back the Islamic State stronghold of Mosul. “We will stand united with the families of victims, the French people and the government in the fight against violence and hatred”.
Asked if the Nice attack would prompt the Government to spend more on Britain’s counter-terror efforts, Mrs May said: “The Government is already making more funding available for the security services which will enable them to increase their efforts”.
Tour director Christian Prudhomme said there will be a minute’s silence at the start of the stage, several hours drive from Nice.
World leaders rushed to condemn the bloodshed, with US President Barack Obama blasting “what appears to be a horrific terrorist attack”.
He was said to be known to police for non-terror-related offenses. “A fraction of a second later, an enormous white truck came along at a insane speed, turning the wheel to mow down the maximum number of people”, he said.
As Magnus Ranstorp, an worldwide terror expert at the Swedish Defense College noted, “No training has to go into an attack like this”.
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Counter-terrorism investigators from Paris have taken charge of the investigation under Chief Prosecutor Francois Molins.
