At least 84 dead as lorry ploughs into Bastille Day crowds in Nice, France
Dozens have died in Nice, France, after a lorry drove through a crowd celebrating Bastille Day.
At least 84 are dead in the city in southern France after the attack.
The lorry drove down the Promenade des Anglais after ploughing through barriers during the celebration.
He drove down the strip for 1.2 miles before being shot dead by police.
The attack took place at around 23:00, local time.
In the lorry grenades and guns were found by police, suggest local reports.
French President Francois Hollande called the attack of “an undeniable terrorist nature”.
Three days of national mourning were declared by Prime Minister Manuel Valls.
A state of emergency, which has been in place since November 2015, when attacks took place in Paris which left 130 dead, has been extended by a further three months.
The attack, for which nobody has yet claimed responsibility, took place just after fireworks to mark Bastille Day, the French national holiday.
Witnesses said the lorry “zig-zagged” down the street and that the driver shot at police.
Papers for a 31-year-old French-Tunisian man were found in the truck according to local media, who named him as Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel, but police have not confirmed the attacker’s identity.
The lorry used by the attacker, white in colour, was shown in photos being investigated by police on Friday morning, riddled with bullet holes.
In the early hours of Friday morning Francois Hollande said France was “badly hit” by the attack but said “we need to do everything we can to fight against” such attacks.
“All of France is under the threat of Islamic terrorism.”
“But France is a great country and a great democracy that will not allow itself to be destabilised,” he added.
US President Barack Obama condemned the attack “in the strongest terms”, describing it as a “horrific terrorist attack”.
Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said he was “shocked and saddened”, calling the attack “appalling”, and the “loss of life… terrible”.
The attack comes a month after a gay club was targeted by a gunman with an assault rifle in Orlando Florida, killing 49 and injuring 53.
Previously, in November, many were left dead after an attack on restaurants, a concert hall and the Stade de France, and multiple attacks have taken place in recent years, including on the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo.
Security in London is being “reviewed” following the attack.
