Image capture from video by The National via YouTube channel - At least 80 people were killed when a truck slammed into the crowd celebrating the Bastille Day in France
- 100 other people were injured
- No group claimed responsibility to the carnage, but French authorities declared it a terrorist attack
The huge crowd celebrating the Bastille Day on Thursday night, July 14, was watching the end of the fireworks display when a large truck plowed into them at the Promenade des Anglais, in Nice, France.
Witnesses said the truck driver crashed into the crowd and drove for more than one kilometer along the main street in Nice, mowing down people who gathered to watch the fireworks display.
A journalist, Damien Allemand, said he saw the truck appear and began to slam into people.
“I saw bodies flying like bowling pins along its route. Heard noises, cries that I will never forget,” he wrote in his article for Nice Matin.
A restaurant owner told Time the attack was “carnage.”
“I could hear screams, cries and it looked like bowling, people were being thrown in the air two or three meters high. In front of my restaurant there were at least ten people lying on the street, dead,” he said.
According to Time, at least 80 people were killed and 100 others were injured.
The driver, a 31-year-old man from Nice of Tunisian origin and whose name was withheld, fired at the people before he was gunned down by responding policemen.
The police found firearms, explosives and grenades in the heavy-duty truck.
Although no group claimed responsibility for the carnage, French authorities declared it a terrorist attack. They appealed to people to remain calm and stay indoors, apparently fearing more attacks might happen.
President Obama issued a statement condemning the attack. He said: “On behalf of the American people, I condemn in the strongest terms what appears to be a horrific terrorist attack in Nice, France, which killed and wounded dozens of innocent civilians. We stand in solidarity and partnership with France, our oldest ally, as they respond to and recover from this attack.”
After the attack, French President Francois Hollande vowed to strengthen France’s role in the fight against the Islamic State.
“Nothing will make us yield in our will to fight terrorism. We will further strengthen our actions in Iraq and in Syria. We will continue striking those who attack us on our own soil,” he said, in reference to the Islamic State group.
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