An attacker killed more than 80 people and injured many by ramming a heavy truck at high speed a crowd watching Bastille Day firework in the French Riviera city of Nice late on Thursday, officials said. The attack comes eight months after Islamic State gunmen and suicide bombers killed 130 people in Paris.
Here is the latest:
3.15 pm: At least 50 children are hospitalised after the attack, AFP reports.
2.15 am: France declares three-day national mourning.
2.05 pm: The attacker is a 31-year-old Franco-Tunisian, whose identity papers were recovered from the vehicle after the carnage. Police have not yet released the attacker’s name, but say he lived in Nice.
1.35 pm: Nice truck attacker formally identified, AFP reports quoting a police source.
1.25 pm: A lawmaker of the region that includes Nice says some people tried to escape the attack by going into the sea.
“A person jumped onto the truck to try to stop it,” Eric Ciotti told Europe 1 radio. “It’s at that moment that the police were able to neutralise this terrorist. I won’t forget the look of this policewoman who intercepted the killer.”
1.05 pm: Russian news agencies quote Irina Tyurina, spokeswoman for the Russian Union of Travel Industry, as saying that a Russian woman was killed and her friend hurt in the attack. According to the agencies, Tyurina said she got the information from insurance agencies. “Two friends from Russia were taking a walk on the Promenade des Anglais. One was killed by the truck, the other lightly injured, she’s got broken toes and some other minor injuries,” Tyurina said.
Thousands of Russian tourists are estimated to be holidaying in Nice.
12.25 pm: French ambassador ‘thanks India for solidarity,” reports our correspondent Kallol Bhattacharjee. “India France together against terror”.
12.15 pm
Follow
Sushma Swaraj ✔ @SushmaSwaraj
I have spoken to our Ambassador in France Shri Mohan Kumar. He has again confirmed that all Indians are safe. @Indian_Embassy
12:12 PM – 15 Jul 2016
338 338 Retweets 756 756 likes
11.45 am: British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson says he was shocked and saddened by the attack.
Follow
Boris Johnson ✔ @BorisJohnson
Shocked and saddened by the appalling events in Nice, and the terrible loss of life.
6:22 AM – 15 Jul 2016
1,144 1,144 Retweets 2,172 2,172 likes
11.25 am: France, hit with two waves of attacks in 2015 that killed 147 people, has long known be a top target of Islamic State. In September 2014, its spokesman, Abu Mohammed al-Adnani, referred to “the filthy French” in a statement telling Muslims within the country to attack them in any way they could, including “crush them with your car.”
The message was not limited to France. It addressed “disbelieving Americans or Europeans, especially the spiteful and filthy French or an Australian or a Canadian.”
11 am: The attack in Nice has left 84 dead and 18 in a “critical condition”, Interior Ministry spokesman Pierre-Henry Brandet says.
10.45 am: Nice truck attacker was known to French police for common law crimes, but not to intelligence services, Reuters reports, citing a police source.
10.20 am: Here is what we know about what French President Francois Hollande has declared an “undeniable” terrorist attack.
