TERROR:77 dead as lorry hits crowd in French city of NICE

Nice: '77 dead' as lorry hits crowds in French city

Attacker shot and killed by police after driving lorry into crowds celebrating Bastille Day in southern city of Nice.

At least 77 people were killed and another 100 injured in the southern French city of Nice after an attacker drove a lorry into a crowd celebrating the Bastille Day national holiday.

The attacker behind the wheel on Thursday drove at high speed along the famed Promenade des Anglais seafront hitting the mass of spectators who had been watching a fireworks display. Police then shot and killed the driver, officials said.

Identity papers belonging to a 31-year-old French-Tunisian were found inside the truck, a police source told AFP news agency on Friday.



"The identification of the truck driver is still underway," said the source. The identity papers indicate the man is a resident of Nice.

Christian Estrosi, the French resort's mayor, said on Twitter that the latest death toll from "this terrible attack" was "77 victims".

The attack struck just as the fireworks - which were attended by thousands of people - were ending, at around 11:00pm local time (21:00GMT).

Eric Ciottio, the ranking politician of the Alpes-Maritime department that includes Nice, said the truck rammed into the crowd over a distance of two kilometres.

Ciotti said on BFM TV that police killed the driver "apparently after an exchange of gunfire". He said the truck was loaded with arms and grenades.

An eyewitness said he saw the driver emerge from the lorry shooting, after ramming into the crowd [Reuters]
In a live tevelision address on Friday morning, French President Francois Hollande said the attack was clearly a "terrorist" act.

Hollande said he would extend France's state of emergency, which has been in place since the deadly attacks in Paris last november, for another three months from July 26.

Residents of the Mediterranean city, which is close to the Italian border, were advised to stay indoors.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack. But Nada Bakos, former CIA analyst, said it "looks very similar" to some of the attacks carried out by al-Qaeda and ISIL.

She said groups like al-Qaeda and ISIL "had a playbook that essentially foretold this type of attacks".

"They were inciting their followers to produce this type of violence."

'I saw bodies flying'

Writing online, Nice Matin journalist Damien Allemand, who was at the waterside, said the fireworks display had finished and the crowd had got up to leave when they heard a noise and cries.

"A fraction of a second later, an enormous white truck came along at a crazy speed, turning the wheel to mow down the maximum number of people," he said.

"I saw bodies flying like bowling pins along its route. Heard noises, cries that I will never forget."

Allemand, along with others, took shelter in a nearby restaurant. He continued to hear people shouting for missing family members. He ventured out and saw bodies, blood and body parts all along the road.

"This evening, it was horror," Allemand concluded.

The Paris prosecutor's office opened an investigation for "murder, attempted murder in an organised group linked to a terrorist enterprise". The investigation is being handled by France's intelligence agency and judicial police.

An eyewitness told the Associated Press that he saw the driver emerge from the lorry shooting, after ramming into the crowd.

"There was carnage on the road," Wassim Bouhlel, a Nice native, told the news agency. "Bodies everywhere."