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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”.

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

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