Although the cause of the attack has not been officially confirmed, Putin said on Friday in a message of condolences to French President Francois Hollande that terrorism can be defeated only if “all civilized mankind pulls efforts together” to fight militants, their leaders as well as targeting their financial backers “wherever they are hiding”.
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The Australian Embassy in Paris is making urgent enquiries to determine whether any Australians have been affected by the incident at the Bastille Day celebration in Nice, France.
“Families who were sharing a moment of leisure were targeted”. It said it stood in solidarity with France after the attack.
As the sun rose over the picturesque bay after the nightmarish night, forensic police swarmed the promenade.
A photograph showed the front of the truck riddled with bullet holes, and badly damaged with burst tyres.
A witness, Wassim Bouhlel, told the Associated Press that he saw the truck drive into the crowd, then witnessed the driver emerge with a gun and start shooting.
“All we see is this truck along the boardwalk, just ploughing through people, just bodies getting hit and people running in all directions”, Tony Molina, who witnessed the attack from his apartment, told CNN. “I had to protect my face from flying debris”. Dozens of others were injured and 18 of the wounded are in grave condition, according to Cazeneuve.
One image on Twitter shows dozens of people lying injured on the floor with another showing a white lorry stopped in the middle of the street with four police officers observing it from a nearby palm tree.
Some were quickly tracked down, according to relieved tweets.
The regional government labelled the massacre a “terrorist attack” while an interior ministry spokesman said it was too early to know what motivated the killers.
No group has yet claimed responsibility for the attack, but social-media channels supporting the Islamic State (ISIS) militant group celebrated the attack.
While security forces will remain on high alert, Hollande also called on France’s “operational reservists” to boost the ranks of police and gendarmes.
The attack comes with France under a state of emergency following the Islamic State attacks in Paris in November that left 130 people dead.
He also said France would strengthen its role in Iraq and Syria, where it is part of the global coalition fighting IS jihadists.
The Mediterranean city of Nice, with its pebble beaches and clear blue water, has been a magnet for sun-seekers and the jet-set since the 19th century.
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Eric Ciotti said on BFM TV that police killed the driver “apparently after an exchange of gunfire”.
