Nice, France, was beset by a terror attack after the driver of a lorry ploughed into a crowd celebrating Bastille Day. The driver, identified as Mohammed Lahouajej Bouhlel, sped for a mile down the Promenade des Anglais, killing at least 84 and leaving dozens requiring critical care, before engaging in a gunfight with police and being shot dead.
The Nice local, Bouhlel, 31, is not thought to have ties to any extremist groups, although he was known by police for petty theft. Police searched the bullet ridden lorry and his apartment and he is thought to be French born and of Tunisian descent.
10 children are confirmed among the dead, 2 having died post-surgery. 50 other children are in hospital and one British national is among the scores of those injured.
Multiple videos have surfaced online of panic stricken crowds and chaos along with multiple pictures on social media of bodies lying along the road. Police and anti-terrorism officers have flooded the streets of the southern French city.
The mayor of Nice, Christian Estrosi, has urged residents to stay in their homes whilst French President François Hollande addressed the nation stating, “we need to do everything we can to fight such attacks.” Operational reserves are to be deployed to assist the army and security forces, particularly at the border.
New UK Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson is “shocked and saddened by the appalling events” and a Cobra (Cabinet Office Briefing Room A) meeting is to be held in the UK due to the crisis. London Mayor Sadiq Khan is to review security measures in London.
This attack comes just days before Hollande was to end the state of emergency currently deployed in France following the November Paris attack in which 150 people died at the hands of ISIS. However, it is now to be extended for another three months.
French Prime Minister, Manuel Valls, has declared France will conduct 3 days of national mourning starting on Saturday.
