The Helmsley Hotel in NY is lit up like the French flag following the terrorist attack in Nice, France.
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Clinton said late Thursday night in a statement, ‘Once again, it appears that terrorists have struck at one of our closest allies in Europe, attacking families celebrating the history and culture of their country on Bastille Day. People were observing Bastille Day: the anniversary of a mob storming a looming fortress that held political prisoners two days after the French Revolution in Paris started in 1789.
Over 84 people were killed and dozens injured when a truck mowed into a crowded street of revellers in the southern French city of Nice.
84 people were killed and 18 people remain critically injured following the attack, which saw a man drive a truck at speed through crowds celebrating Bastille Day on the city promenade.
The president of the Nice region, Christian Estrosi, said the truck was loaded with weapons and grenades and the driver was firing a pistol when he was shot by police.
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.
At the French embassy in Washington, a tearful ambassador Gerard Araud cancelled champagne and dancing by guests at his Bastille Day celebration and US President Barack Obama condemned it as an horrific terrorist attack. The wife has been brought in for questioning. “There was carnage on the road”, Wassim Bouhlel, a resident of Nice, told the AP. The Paris prosecutor’s office opened an investigation for “murder and attempted murder in an organized group linked to a terrorist enterprise”.
Police said he was known to them as a petty criminal and his home was being searched. The truck he used had been rented.
Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere said Friday he was shocked by the news of the attack and that his thoughts were with the victims and their family.
“It is an absolute horror”, said President François Hollande of France in a nationally televised address early Friday.
Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed solidarity and called it an “outrageous terrorist attack” that exposed “brutality and cynicism” that was “shocking”.
Hollande summoned a defense council meeting Friday with other key ministers and officials, before heading to Nice.
“France is afflicted, but she is strong, and she will always be stronger than the fanatics who want to strike her today”, he said.
Witnesses described scenes of chaos after the truck hit the crowd. The alert has been lifted, and people were allowed to go back in the terminal and retrieve their luggage.
Hollande spoke to the nation hours after the attack and extended France’s state of emergency by three months. She also said that Britain’s national security cabinet would convene to review the situation and assess what it could do to help.
Additional military personnel have been deployed around the country.
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“We have already taken a certain number of steps in connection with preparations for July 21, as you can imagine, and our security services are permanently evaluating the measures that are necessary”, Charles Michel, the Belgian prime minister, said in a radio interview.
