At
least 84 people were killed and several others were seriously injured
Thursday when a suspected terrorist drove a large truck into a crowd
that had gathered for a Bastille Day fireworks display in the southern
French city of Nice.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but
two sources, including a U.S. counterterrorism source who collects and
monitors jihadist social media, told Fox News that accounts linked to
ISIS were “celebratory” and their followers were told to use the hashtag
“Nice.”
Initial reports said the man was driving a truck
loaded with guns and hand grenades. However, a security source told
Agence France-Presse (AFP) that an “inactive” grenade was found as well
as “several fake rifles.”
The death toll was confirmed by French Interior
Minister Bernard Cazeneuve early Friday morning. A source told Fox News
that two Americans – a father and his son – were among the dead in the
attack.
Earlier, French President Francois Hollande said that
children were among the dead, and said his country was "under the
threat of Islamic terrorism. We have to demonstrate absolute vigilance
and show determination that is unfailing."
Hollande also announced that he would extend France's
state of emergency by another three months, until Oct. 26. France has
been on its highest state of alert since ISIS terrorists killed 130
people in Paris this past Nov. 13.
French Interior Ministry spokesman Pierre-Henry
Brandet said the truck driver was killed by police. According to AFP,
the man fired his gun several times into the massive crowd of Bastille
Day revelers before being shot dead. Images showed the truck riddled
with bullets on its windshield
The Paris prosecutor's office announced that it was opening an anti-terrorism investigation into the attack.
Sky News and the Nice-Matin newspaper reported the driver was a 31-year-old Nice resident of Tunisian origin. According to
BFM-TV in France, the man was known to police but not for terrorism. No other details were immediately available.
A U.S. official told Fox News that the attack was in
line with ISIS, which has become "increasingly brazen" in its attacks as
it comes under increasing military pressure in Iraq and Syria.
A 2010 edition of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula's
propaganda magazine "Inspire" also called on would-be terrorists to
"use a pickup truck as a mowing machine ... to mow down the enemies of
Allah."
The horror began at around 10:30 p.m. local time. A
local government official told Fox News that the truck was driving full
speed when it hit the crowd on the Promenade des Anglais, a major
boulevard along the Mediterranean Sea.
Damien Allemand, a journalist for Nice-Matin, said
the fireworks display was over and people were getting up to leave when
they heard a loud noise and screams.
"A fraction of a second later, an enormous white
truck came along at a crazy speed, turning the wheel to mow down the
maximum number of people," he said. "I saw bodies flying like bowling
pins along its route. Heard noises, cries that I will never forget."
Allemand said people took shelter in a nearby
restaurant, where he continued to hear people shouting for missing
family members. He ventured out and saw bodies, blood and body parts all
along the road.
"This evening, it was horror," Allemand concluded.
Nice-Matin posted an image of the truck on Twitter, captioning it, "The truck that drove into the crowd."
Another witness, Wassim Bouhlel, told the Associated
Press that he saw the truck drive into the crowd, then witnessed the
driver emerge with a gun and start shooting.
"There was carnage on the road," Bouhlel said. "Bodies everywhere."
Video showed men and women -- one or two pushing
strollers -- racing to get away from the scenes. And, in what appeared
to be evidence of a gun battle, photos showed a truck with at least half
a dozen bullet holes punched through its windshield.
Graphic footage showed a scene of horror up and down
the Promenade, with broken bodies splayed out on the asphalt, some of
them piled near one another, others bleeding out onto the roadway or
twisted into unnatural shapes.
"Help my mother, please!" one person yells out amid a
cacophony of screaming and crying. A pink girl's bicycle is briefly
seen overturned by the side of the road.
Nice's public prosecutor told reporters early Friday that bodies of the victims were scattered for over a mile.
Another witness, identified only as Chloe, told
FranceTV Info, "We heard gunfire, a lot. A crowd came to us and told us
to run ... We went into a tapas bar and hid in the bathroom for half an
hour.
"We went out and again we heard people running and
saying 'truck, truck,' so we hid in the bathroom for an hour. The
manager took us out by the back door and then I went home."
President Barack Obama said he condemned "what appears to be a horrific terrorist attack" in the strongest terms.
"On this Bastille Day," Obama said, "we are reminded
of the extraordinary resilience and democratic values that have made
France an inspiration to the entire world, and we know that the
character of the French Republic will endure long after this devastating
and tragic loss of life."
Secretary of State John Kerry called the tragedy
"horrendous" and said it was "an attack against innocent people on a day
that celebrates Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity," a reference to
France's national motto. Kerry also asked U.S. citizens in Nice to
directly contact friends and relatives to inform them of their
well-being.
Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald
Trump announced late Thursday that he would postpone the announcement of
his running mate, which had been scheduled to take place Friday
morning.
France's ambassador to the United States, Gerard Araud, characterized the events in Nice as a "terrorist attack."
"Our democracies -- France, the United States, our
other partners, we are besieged, we face a terrible threat," Araud said
at a Bastille Day reception at the French Embassy in Washington late
Thursday.
July 14 is a national holiday in France that
commemorates the storming of the Bastille prison in Paris and the start
of the French Revolution.
Fox News' Catherine Herridge and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
