The death toll in the attack in Nice, south of France has risen to 84 with 18 people seriously injured after a heavy truck crashed into a crowd celebrating French national holiday, Bastille Day on Thursday night.
Advertisement
They include several children.
France has been under a state of emergency ever since the November 13 Paris carnage, which came after 17 were killed in another attack in January at various sites including the offices of the Charlie Hebdo magazine and a Jewish supermarket.
So far, no group has claimed responsibility.
Nice Terror Attack – In Pictures.
Both presidential candidates also condemned the attacks, with Republican Donald Trump declaring “this is war” and Democrat Hillary Clinton vowing “we will not be intimidated”. A paper image of the ISIS flag was found on his body, Paris prosecutors said.
“France was struck on its national day… the symbol of freedom”, said Hollande. “We will never allow terrorists to undermine the egalitarian and democratic values that underpin our very way of life”.
Mr Valls said later that the goal of terrorists was to “instil fear and panic”.
Indian President Pranab Mukherjee said he was shocked.
“A person jumped onto the truck to try to stop it”, Ciotti told Europe 1 radio. “It’s at that moment that the police were able to neutralize this terrorist”.
This morning German Federal Police also said they would boost border controls at airports as well as road and rail crossings into France.
The driver then reportedly climbed out and started shooting, before being killed by police. He said more than 10 children were among the dead. In his address to the nation after the attack, French President Francois Hollande announced another three-month extension to the measures.
Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve, who traveled to the scene, said police were trying to identify the driver. He added: “The truck was loaded with arms, loaded with grenades”.
The lorry rammed into the crowd on the Promenade des Anglais seaside walk in the centre of town.
U.S. President Barack Obama responded in a similar manner: “On this Bastille Day, we are reminded of the extraordinary resilience and democratic values that have made France an inspiration to the entire world”.
Despite reports after the attack, officials have said that no hostages had been taken and the lorry driver had been “neutralised”, adding that authorities were investigating if he acted alone. “There is a chain of complicity. I expect it to be unveiled, discovered and kept up to date”.
Over the past week, France had been breathing a sigh of relief after successfully hosting the month-long Euro 2016 football championship, which passed off without incident despite fears of attacks.
Nice-Matin posted photographs of the truck, its windshield starred by a score of bullets and its radiator grille destroyed. “I saw bodies flying like bowling pins along its route”.
“I heard lots of screams and everybody was running in different directions”.
In Israel and the Palestinian territories, car-ramming attacks have featured heavily in a wave of violence that has killed at least 215 Palestinians, 34 Israelis, two Americans, an Eritrean and a Sudanese since October past year.
Many are linking the attack to a 2014 audio message from an IS spokesman, Mohammed al-Adnani, who urged followers to stage all manner of attacks.
Advertisement
He declared that the capital would “stand united” with France and insisted the “poisonous and twisted” terrorists would be defeated.
