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Nice attack live: Photo emerges of Bastille Day killer as relative says 'he was no Muslim' - latest news
At least 84 people have been killed, including 'many' children, after a lorry ploughed through a large crowd celebrating Bastille Day on the seafront in Nice, France
At least 84 people have been killed, including a number of children, after a lorry ploughed through a large crowd celebrating Bastille Day on the seafront in Nice, France.
More than a dozen were critically injured, according to the latest count from the French interior ministry.
The driver of the truck, identified in French media as a 31-year-old local of Tunisian origin, is understood to have been shot dead by police at the scene.
Many hundreds were told to run from the scene by police, and the president of the local region, Christian Estrosi, urged everyone in the city to remain indoors.
What happened in Nice: 84 killed as lorry drives through crowd
Witnesses said the driver hit the crowd at high speed, swerving to hit as many as possible before climbing out of the car and shooting more dead.
Images emerged of the badly damaged truck, its windscreen riddled with bullets. Witnesses say there was an exchange of gunfire between the driver and police.
The attack happened on the Promenade des Anglais at around 10:30pm local time at the end of a firework display in what local officials are treating as serious terror attack.
Anti-terror investigators have taken over the scene which has been cordoned off to the public, and an anti-terror probe has now officially been opened.
A spokesman for France's interior ministry said there is going to be "a very high death toll".
In pictures: Bastille Day Nice attack
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President Francois Hollande rushed back to Paris in the wake of the attack, and announced three security measures, including the extension of France's state of emergency - due to end on 26 July - for a further three months.
"A horror has come down on France again," he said, adding that "the terrorist character [of the the attack] cannot be denied".
Mr Hollande expressed solidarity with the victims of the attack, while sounding a defiant note, saying France would continue its operations in Syria and Iraq.
"After Paris, Nice is now hit," he said. "It is all of France which is under threat of Islamic terrorism.
"It is clear we need to do all we can to fight against terrorism," he said. "France is strong, and France will always be stronger, I assure you."
Italy will boost controls at three road crossings into France and at the Ventimiglia train link between the two countries following the truck attack in nearby Nice, Italian Interior Minister Angelino Alfano has said.
"Our security apparatus is at work," Alfano said on his Twitter feed.
Rihanna has cancelled her concert in Nice, which was due to go ahead on Friday.
"Due to the tragic events...my concert...will not be going ahead as planned," Rihanna wrote on her Instagram page. "Our thoughts are with the victims and their families."
The Nice Jazz Festival, scheduled for Saturday, has also been cancelled.
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