NICE: Up to 80 people are feared dead and over 100 others were injured after a van drove into a crowd watching Bastille Day fireworks in the French resort of Nice Thursday, a local official told French television, describing it as a “major criminal attack”.
Speaking to BFMTV, Sebastien Humbert, the sub-prefect of the Alpes-Maritimes region, said the attack left “several dozen, perhaps around 30 people dead” and “around a hundred injured”.
The driver first shot a gun into the crowd before driving two kilometers along the Promenade des Anglais, the main street in Nice, mowing down people who had gathered to watch fireworks, regional President Christian Estrosi told CNN affiliate BFM-TV.
Police shot and killed the driver, said Pierre-Henry Brandet, a spokesman for the French Interior Ministry. Police found firearms, explosives and grenades in the truck, Estrosi said.
“We cannot deny that it was a terror attack,” Hollande said in a national television address. He added that the choice of the day — Bastille Day, when France celebrates its post-French Revolution republic — was particularly poignant.
