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15 July 2016

84 killed in Bastille Day lorry attack in the south of France

A lorry ploughed into a crowd of people celebrating in Nice, in what officials say was a terrorist attack.

By New Statesman

More than 80 people have been killed, and 130 injured, after a lorry drove at speed through a crowd celebrating Bastille Day on the seafront in Nice, the capital of the French Riviera.

Following what officials are calling a terrorist attack, which took place at around 11pm last night, 84 people have been confirmed dead, including several children.

The driver ploughed a 20-tonne white lorry through more than a mile of the waterfront road, the Promenade des Anglais, where thousands had just been watching fireworks.

Identified by a police source quoted by Reuters as a 31-year-old Tunisian-born Frenchman, the attacker jumped out of the cab and opened fire before police shot him dead.

President Francois Hollande said the attack was of “an undeniable terrorist nature”.

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The state of emergency in France, which was about to be lifted following terror attacks last year, has been extended.

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