France Bastille Day Attack: Scores Dead After Truck Plows Through Celebration In Nice

A truck full of bombs and other munitions drove through a shower of police bullets and into a densely packed crowd Thursday celebrating Bastille Day in Nice, France, leaving a trail of bodies in its wake and a death toll in the scores, according to officials and local media reports.

Two Americans, a boy and his father from Texas, were killed in the attack.

Local government called the event an "attack" and urged people in the area to remain indoors, according to the BBC. Social media images and video showed a chaotic scene, as a crowd of people fled the area in a mass panic.

Sebastien Humbert, the prefect of the Alpes-Maritimes region, told France's BFM TV that the lorry driver had been shot dead.

Father And Son From Texas Among Those Killed In Nice

Nice is a small but notable liberal enclave for the arts and a popular tourist destination on the French Rivera in Southeast France.

One eyewitness told BFM TV: "Everyone was calling run, run, run, there's an attack, run, run, run. We heard some shots. We thought they were fireworks because it's the 14th of July.

"There was great panic. We were running too because we didn't want to stick around, and we went into a hotel to get to safety. "

Bastille Day is a French holiday that commemorates the Storming of the Bastille, a crucial event in the French Revolution, and thousands were gathered on Nice's promenade when the attack occurred. Fireworks had just ended.

Last November, attacks in and around Paris killed 130 people, and France has been on alert for a terrorist attack since.

There was no immediate information on the identity of the driver or what motivated his action.

Local authorities were treating the incident as a terrorist attack and urging people to stay home, the French television channel BFM TV reported.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the bloodshed, although The Washington Post reported jihadist networks were celebrating it on social media.

The Associated Press quoted Wassim Bouhlel, a Nice native, as saying that after slamming into the crowd, the truck driver emerged with a gun and started shooting.

“There was carnage on the road,” Bouhlel said. “Bodies everywhere.”

A witness who owns a restaurant nearby told iTele television that the truck “crushed everyone in its path.” Then two men got out of the truck “and started shooting into the crowd, about 50 shots” before being killed, the witness said.

The truck traveled more than a mile through the crowd.

Christian Estrosi, a former mayor of Nice and current president of the Regional Council of Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur, put the death toll at 73, which was later revised to 84, The Post reported. He said in one of a series of Twitter messages that the truck was carrying arms and explosives when it struck the crowd at about 10:30 p.m. local time.

President Obama issued a statement shortly after the attack.

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. Our thoughts and prayers are with the families and other loved ones of those killed, and we wish a full recovery for the many wounded. I have directed my team to be in touch with French officials, and we have offered any assistance that they may need to investigate this attack and bring those responsible to justice. We stand in solidarity and partnership with France, our oldest ally, as they respond to and recover from this attack.

On this Bastille Day, 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.

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump quickly took to Twitter, writing: “Another horrific attack, this time in Nice, France. Many dead and injured. When will we learn? It is only getting worse.” In a later tweet, Trump said he was postponing a news conference scheduled for Friday “concerning my Vice Presidential announcement.”

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Image Credit: Mayor Christian Estrosi via Twitter, Estrosi meets with first responders who responded to the Nice attack