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[WATCH] Ten children among 84 dead in Nice attack

Truck crashes into crowd at Bastille Day celebration in Nice, driving through busy crowd for 2km before being shot dead by police

Last updated on 15 July 2016, 2:30pm
5 min read

A terrorist gunman killed a total 84 people, of which ten were children and youths, and wounded 202 more when he drove a heavy truck at high speed into a crowd watching Bastille Day fireworks in the French Riviera city of Nice late on Thursday.

The driver was shot dead after barrelling the truck two kilometres through the festive crowd on the palm-lined Promenade des Anglais, sending hundreds fleeing in terror and leaving the area strewn with bodies.

French authorities later identified the driver as 31-year-old French-Tunisian citizen Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel after they found his identity papers in the truck, as well as “guns” and “larger weapons”. Le Monde reports that Bouhlel was unknown to both national and local inteligensia and had never shown signs of radicalisation. One report said he was married, with three children.

In a pre-dawn address to the nation, President Francois Hollande called up military and police reservists to relieve forces worn out by an eight-month state of emergency begun after the Islamic State militant group killed 130 people in Paris. The state of emergency has been extended by three months.

“France is filled with sadness by this new tragedy,” Hollande said, noting several children were among the dead in what he said he had no doubt was an act of terrorism.

Hollande reiterated this claim when he took to Twitter, writing "France is tearful and afflicted, but she is also strong - stronger than the fanatics which continuously strike it."

While no organisation has claimed responsibility for the attack, Hollande hinted that he blames Daesh for the attack.

“We are going to strengthen our forces in Syria and Iraq. We will continue to strike those who strike us in their own den.”

Witness John Curtis described the attack, saying he had "never seen panic like it before."

"Suddenly on the other side of the road we could see a white truck driving very fast and swerving from side to side. I knew immediately that it was going to kill people and it was heading straight into the crowds. People started running towards the side streets. I’ve never seen panic like it before."

Another withness, Wassim Bouhel frantically told the French TV channel iTele that the lorry zigzagged across the road.

“We almost died. It was like hallucinating ... [the truck] zigzagged - you had no idea where it was going. My wife ... a metre away ... she was dead. The truck ripped through everything ... poles, trees. We have never seen anything like it. Some people were hanging on the door and tried to stop it.”

BBC journalist Sophie Fischer writes from Nice, describing the city in the aftermath of the attack. "Police are patrolling every entry to promenade and are refusing passage to everyone, even journalists," she wrote. "Employees of the hotels on the promenade are having trouble getting to work and are being searched. All we see on the streets are tourists with their luggage and children hurrying back to the airport, and a couple of witnesses wrapped up in blankets shaking their heads, crying."

She added that at the Mediterenian university centre, where emergency psychological support is been given to people present at the scene, people are bundled up in blankets outside, sometimes covered in blood or bandages. "Rescue teams are evacuating them to a location further away from the scene," she said.

Italian Interior Minister Angelino Alfona tweeted that Italy has tightened border controls at three road crossings into France and at the Ventimiglia train link between the two countries. “Our security apparatus is at work,” he writes, adding that he was due to get a counter terrorism briefing later this morning.

Speaking from the Asia-Europe summit in Mongolia, German Chancellor Angela Merkel showed Germany's solidarity with France by saying: "In the fight against terrorism, Germany sits by France's side."

A similar reaction was seen from Danish PM Lars Løkke Rasmussen, who called the attack "an attack on democaracy and human rights."

Even the Orlando Police Department reached out to France, the city having exprienced its own terror attack around this time last month.

:: Reaction in Malta

Both Malta's Prime Minister, Joseph Muscat, and Opposition leader, Simon Busuttil, expressed their solidarity with France and the French people.

President Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca has written to Hollande to express, on her behalf and on behalf of the people of Malta, her deepest solidarity with the government and people of France and to express her condolences to the families who lost their loved ones in this terrorist act.

Foreign affairs minister George W. Vella expressed, on behalf of the Government of Malta, his heartfelt solidarity with the people of France.

He condemned in the strongest terms the attack carried out and spoke of his shock and horror as details about the incident continued to reach him.

The minister spoke from the capital of Mongolia, Ulaanbaatar, where he is participating at an EU-Asia Summit.

Vella reaffirmed Malta's commitment to the fight against terrorism.

He also conveyed condolences to the families of the victims and wishes for a speedy recovery to those who were injured.

He said the ministry was following unfolding events very closely and was carrying the necessary investigations to confirm that no Maltese nationals have been involved in the tragic attacks.

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