The 84 dead included French and foreigners, children and adults.
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As we reported, an attacker drove a truck into the crowd celebrating Bastille Day for more than a mile along the French Riviera promenade.
It named the victims as Sean Copeland, 51, and his son, Brodie, 11, from Texas, citing a statement from the family.
In France itself, far-right National Front leader Marine Le Pen, expected to do well in next year’s presidential election, faulted the country’s response to past attacks.
Some people jumped off the promenade seeking safety, he says.
President Hollande warned today that 50 people attacked in Nice were in a critical condition “between life and death”. Officials said he also opened fire before he was shot by police. Two trucks packed with explosives plowed into barracks housing US and French military members, killing more than 300 people. “We ran like insane”, she said.
Prime Minister Manuel Valls has called for three days of national mourning. Some of the victims identified were two American citizens, a Ukranian, a Russian and a Swiss woman. “We just had time to throw the children”, the 42-year-old Frenchman told The Associated Press. The state of emergency was due to expire later this month.
“I thought it could either be a drunk driver or a terror attack”, said German tourist Richard Gutjahr, who filmed it from a hotel balcony.
No group has claimed responsibility for the attack.
The witness said he saw only the driver.
He also heard a ringing phone that apparently belonged to a man who had been mowed down. “It is urgent now that it be declared”, she said on Twitter.
In no time, there were bodies everywhere besides limbs and blood on the street. He described scenes of “absolute chaos”.
Facebook has activated the Safety Check feature for people in and around the area of the attack.
“It’s really sad when you’ve been marked safe twice on Facebook in the last week”.
He said: “There are some people who wish to impose a completely alien system on us and are willing to use a high level of violence to achieve their aims”. His comments came at a prefecture headquarters in Nice after he visited some of the victims at a hospital.
This is the third major terrorist attack, in France in, in 18 months. It took about two minutes for the truck to travel two kilometers. I work there. And my daughter. “But in that moment as I was considering it, that’s when the panic really took hold”.
Hollande’s government, whose popularity has plumbed record lows, has recently been buffeted by allegations that France’s intelligence services have failed to get a handle on the country’s jihadist threat. No major attacks occurred during the event. Authorities also found in the truck a fake pistol, an ammunition magazine, a replica M16 rifle, a replica Kalashnikov rifle and a fake grenade. Investigators determined they were inspired but not directed by foreign terrorist groups. President Barack Obama condemned what he said “appears to be a horrific terrorist attack”.
People in Nice react in the early hours of Friday morning after the attack.
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According to Palestine’s official WAFA news agency, Abbas went on to denounce the “cowardly” attack in Nice in the “strongest possible terms”.
