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Agence France-Presse

The truck driver who rammed his vehicle into a massive crowd in Nice fired a pistol several times before being shot dead by police in what President Francois Hollande on Friday called a “terrorist” attack on France’s symbolic Bastille Day.
At least 80 people were killed when a truck drove into a crowd celebrating Bastille Day in the southern French seaside resort of Nice, leaving a 2km trail of dead and injured before the driver was slain by police in a hail of gunfire, officials said.
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President Francoise Hollande said it “cannot be denied” that the slaughter was of “terrorist nature”.
Christian Estrosi, a leading regional politician in the area, said on Twitter: “This is the worst drama in the history of Nice.”
French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said 80 people had been killed, and 18 were in a “critical condition”. Hollande said “several children” were among the dead.

Christian Estrosi, the president of the local region said of the truck driver: “At the moment that he was shot dead by police, he had fired several times.”
Authorities said they found identity papers belonging to a 31-year-old French-Tunisian citizen in the 19-tonne truck.
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A source close to the investigation said an “inactive” grenade was found inside the 19-tonne truck, as well as “several fake rifles”.
Regional lawmaker Eric Ciotti described “terrifying images, a scene of absolute horror, with many children among the dead”.
“Families who were sharing a moment of leisure were targeted. It was a symbolic day in a symbolic place. That ... motivated the attack,” he said.


Hollande was quick to decry the incident as terrorism.
“France has been struck on the day of her national holiday ... the symbol of liberty,” he said. “We show our solidarity towards the victims and their families. All means are being deployed to help the wounded. France as a whole is under the threat of Islamic terrorism. We have to demonstrate absolute vigilance and show determination that is unfailing.
“I have decided that the state of emergency which was supposed to end on 26 July will be extended by three months.”
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Photos showed the white truck riddled with bullet holes. “An individual drove a truck into the crowd. He was killed by police,” said interior ministry spokesman Pierre-Henry Brandet. Social media showed casualties lying in the street, some being tended by paramedics.
The incident on Thursday night comes as France remains badly shaken by November 2015 attacks which killed 130 people at the Bataclan concert hall in Paris and nightspots across the city.
Describing it as a “major criminal attack”, Sebastien Humbert, the sub-prefect of the Alpes-Maritimes region, told BFMTV the driver had left “around a hundred injured”.
Police and ambulances went to the scene and authorities from the local Alpes-Maritimes prefecture urged residents to stay indoors.
The white truck drove at high speed onto the famed Promenade des Anglais as people were leaving after the annual Bastille Day celebration display.
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“We saw people hit and bits of debris flying around,” said an AFP reporter who was in the crowd.
“I had to protect my face from flying debris.”
The correspondent described the moment that the large white truck plunged into crowds of people who had come to the bustling Mediterranean beachfront to celebrate.
Terrified people screamed and scattered as it veered down the promenade, where adults and children were walking towards the famous Negresco Hotel.
Nice prosecutor Jean-Michel Pretre said the truck drove two kilometres through the crowd, mowing people down in what one local official has called a “major criminal attack”.
“For a big truck like that to get actually onto the promenade and then to go in a fairly straight line along there, looked to me like a very deliberate act,” the reporter said.
“It was about 100 metres from me and I had a few seconds to get out of the way.”
Police could be seen surrounding the truck in the early hours of Friday, its windscreen riddled with bullet holes, under the lights of the Negresco Hotel.


Australian Emily Watkins said she was less than 50 metres away from the incident and saw the truck on the promenade but did not realise what was happening.
“There was a lot of confusion. I don’t actually remember seeing the truck moving,” she told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
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“There was a lot of screams coming from ahead of us where the truck was, and people just running towards us and without really knowing what was going on we turned and ran as well.
“As we were running away we could hear what I thought at the time were more flares or fireworks.
“People were tripping over and trying to get into hotel lobbies and restaurants or car parks or anywhere they could to get away from the street.”

The incident came just hours after France announced that a state of emergency declared after last November’s attacks would come to an end later this month.
Speaking on the national July 14 holiday, President Francois Hollande said the decree after the November 13 attacks would not be renewed beyond July 26, because a law bolstering security in France was adopted in May.
Nice city mayor Christian Estrosi urged residents to stay in doors.
“The driver of a van appears to have killed dozens. Stay in your homes for now. More info to follow,” Estrosi wrote on Twitter.
Agence France-Presse, The Guardian, Associated Press and Reuters


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Bastille Day attack

Bastille Day horror: ‘terrorist’ truck driver dies in shoot-out with police after ploughing through revellers in France, leaving 2km trail of carnage

Authorities say at least 80 are dead after the atrocity on the Nice promenade, with the driver killed in a hail of police gunfire

ATTENTION EDITORS - VISUAL COVERAGE OF SCENES OF INJURY OR DEATH - A body is seen on the ground July 15, 2016 after at least 30 people were killed in Nice, France, when a truck ran into a crowd celebrating the Bastille Day national holiday July 14. REUTERS/Eric Gaillard REUTERS/Eric Gaillard TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY

This screen grab from a TF1 broadcast shows French President Francois Hollande speaking about the attack in Nice early on July 15, 2016 at the Elysee in Paris. A truck ploughed into a crowd in the French Riviera resort of Nice, killing at least 80 and injuring scores in what Hollande called a "terrorist" attack on revellers watching a Bastille Day fireworks display. / AFP PHOTO / TF1 / TF1 / -----EDITORS NOTE --- RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - MANDATORY CREDIT "AFP PHOTO / TF1" - NO MARKETING - NO ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS - DISTRIBUTED AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS - NO ARCHIVES

ATTENTION EDITORS - VISUAL COVERAGE OF SCENES OF INJURY OR DEATH - Bodies are seen on the ground July 15, 2016 after at least 30 people were killed in Nice, France, when a truck ran into a crowd celebrating the Bastille Day national holiday July 14. REUTERS/Eric Gaillard

Police officers and soldiers block the access to the scene of an attack after a truck drove on to the sidewalk and plowed through a crowd of revelers who'd gathered to watch the fireworks in the French resort city of Nice, southern France, Friday, July 15, 2016. France's Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said 80 people were killed, including children, and 18 were in critical condition, (AP Photo/Claude Paris)

French police forces and forensic officers stand next to a truck July 15, 2016 that ran into a crowd celebrating the Bastille Day national holiday on the Promenade des Anglais killing at least 60 people in Nice, France, July 14.Photo: REUTERS

‘I saw bodies flying like bowling pins in its path. Heard sounds, howls that I will never forget’

A body believed to be that of a child, a doll at their feet, is wrapped in a foil blanket on the Nice promenade in Thursday night. Photo: Reuters

epa05425167 Emergency team assist wounded people as they evacuate from the scene where a truck crashed into the crowd during the Bastille Day celebrations in Nice, France, 14 July 2016. According to reports, at least 70 people died and many were wounded after a truck drove into the crowd on the famous Promenade des Anglais during celebrations of Bastille Day. Anti-terrorism police took over the investigation in the incident, media added. EPA/OLIVIER ANRIGO

A policeman stands, watching the truck used for the attack near the scene of an attack after a truck drove onto the sidewalk late Thursday, and plowed through a crowd of revelers who gathered to watch the fireworks in the French resort city of Nice, southern France, Friday, July 15, 2016. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

People cross the street with their hands on thier heads as a French soldier secures the area July 15, 2016 after at least 60 people were killed along the Promenade des Anglais in Nice, France, when a truck ran into a crowd celebrating the Bastille Day national holiday July 14. REUTERS/Jean-Pierre Amet TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY

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Leaders attended the G20 Summit in Antalya, Turkey on Monday and raised the alarm over escalating international movement from "foreign terrorist fighters" in a draft statement drawn up November 15 after the Paris assaults claimed by Islamic State jihadists. Photo: AFP

The debris from the site of a twin bombing attack in the area of Burj al-Barajneh in Beirut's southern suburb last Thursday. Photo: AFP

U.S. President Barack Obama (R) chats with Russia's President Vladimir Putin prior to a working session at the Group of 20 (G20) leaders summit in Antalya, Turkey. Photo: Reuters

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A soldier on patrol at the Notre-Dame de Paris cathedral on Christmas Eve. Photos: AFP; Corbis

Soldiers on patrol at the Eiffel Tower.

A couple stand by a makeshift memorial in front of the La Belle Equipe café on December 13.

The Bataclan theatre, where 89 people were killed in the November attacks.

An exhibition about the Egyptian god Osiris at the institute.

The Frank Gehry-designed Fondation Louis Vuitton.

The Institut du Monde Arabe.

The Saint-Sulpice Church, in Paris, France.

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Authorities say at least 80 are dead after the atrocity on the Nice promenade, with the driver killed in a hail of police gunfire


Update | Bastille Day horror: ‘terrorist’ truck driver dies in shoot-out with police after ploughing through revellers in France, leaving 2km trail of carnage

Authorities say at least 80 are dead after the atrocity on the Nice promenade, with the driver killed in a hail of police gunfire