He opened fire on the crowd and drove almost a mile through it, running over people as he went. “He was killed by police”.
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The driver’s rampage was stopped in a hail of gunfire from police that left the truck itself riddled with bullets.
Video and images on social media showed huge crowds running for their lives while many others lay dead and injured in the streets. “I had to protect my face from flying debris”, he said.
“On behalf of the American people, I condemn in the strongest terms what appears to be a horrific terrorist attack in Nice, France, which killed and wounded dozens of innocent civilians”, Obama said.
On the evening of Bastille Day, an attacker drove a truck into the crowd celebrating on the waterfront in Nice, killing at least 75 and injuring many more.
The city’s prosecutor’s office confirmed hundreds are injured as counter-terrorism investigators in Paris have taken charge of the investigation. “Our democracies – France, the United States, our other partners, we are besieged, we face a bad threat”, Araud said at a Bastille Day reception at the French Embassy in Washington late Thursday.
Islamic State has repeatedly singled out France as a prime target, and the country has been under a state of emergency ever since the November 13 Paris attacks.
Nice is a city on France’s Mediterranean coast popular with tourists.
“I was having a drink, but after a few minutes people started running toward us from the promenade. We brought in about 10 people from the street and they’re now in our hotel room, and it’s just mayhem”, he said.
“France has been struck on the day of her national holiday. the symbol of liberty”, President Francois Hollande said in a nationally televised address in which he said a state of emergency that was scheduled to be lifted at the end of the month would be extended for three more months. But several French media said the anti-terrorist investigation department had been put on the case.
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.
“The driver of a van appears to have killed dozens. Stay in your homes for now”.
Hollande said he was calling a defense council meeting Friday that brings together defense, interior and other key ministers, then heading to Nice. The broader picture, however, looks unpleasantly clear: mainland Europe, and France in particular, is facing a vicious, repeated string of attacks that are hard to stop and likely to produce evermore unpredictable political consequences. On Sunday, a tired nation had breathed a collective sigh of relief as the month-long Euro 2016 soccer tournament across France ended without a feared attack.
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Australians in Nice should remain attentive to their surroundings, avoid affected areas and follow the instructions of local authorities.
