15 Jul
A spokesperson for the Interior Ministry confirmed that at least 84 people had been killed after the truck ploughed two kilometres (1.3 miles) through the crowd, who had just finished watching the firework show.
As rumours swirled online, the Ministry dismissed reports that people had been taken hostage.
According to witness testimonies confirmed by a police source, the driver pulled out a gun and fired at the crowd before being shot dead.
He is yet to be named, but the identity papers of a 31-year-old French-Tunisian were found in the truck, according to a police source. The papers indicate the man is a Nice resident who is known to police for common law crimes, but not to intelligence services.
Multiple bullet holes were visible in the truck’s windscreen as police moved in after the carnage.
Was this a jihadist attack?
The attack has not been claimed by any group, but Hollande said in an address to the nation early Friday that the attack was of an “undeniable terrorist nature”.
Prosecutors say the probe will be handled by anti-terrorism investigators.
“Investigations are currently underway to establish if the individual acted alone or if he had accomplices who might have fled,” interior ministry spokesman Brandet said.
The attack comes with France under a state of emergency following the Islamic State group attacks in Paris in November that left 130 people dead.
How has the government reacted?
Hollande announced that the state of emergency would be extended by three months and army reservists called up to boost security.
He also said France would strengthen its role in Iraq and Syria, where it is part of the international coalition fighting IS group jihadists.
He will chair a meeting of top military and security officials later Friday to decide on possible further steps.
Has anything like this happened in France before?…………….
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Dylan Noble was killed after being pulled over at California gas station
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Multiple shots were fired even as he was wounded and lying on his back
The Fresno, California, police department released graphic body-camera footage of officers repeatedly shooting an unarmed teenager, including multiple shots that were fired as the adolescent was gravely wounded, lying on his back and barely moving. Dylan Noble, 19, was shot at a gas station last month
Police in California have released graphic body-camera footage of officers repeatedly shooting an unarmed teenager, including multiple shots that were fired as the adolescent was gravely wounded, lying on his back and barely moving.
The release on Wednesday of video of the killing of Dylan Noble, a 19-year-old shot at a gas station in Fresno on 25 June, occurred just hours after the police department told the Guardian it would not release the footage.
Officers privately showed the video to Noble’s family last Friday but had initially refused to release the video to the public until the investigation was complete.
“They just wanted to shoot him,” said Darren Noble, Dylan’s father, after watching the footage. “They’re just trigger-happy.”……….
Toy guns and sharp-tipped umbrellas are banned from the vicinity of the event where Donald Trump will be nominated. Rifles, shotguns and pistols are not
Police officers in Cleveland, Ohio, show off remote-controlled robots, horse-mounted officers, bomb-sniffing dogs ahead of the Republican national convention. Photograph: Michael Mathes/AFP/Getty Images
Cleveland officials have expressed concern about the Ohio “open carry” state laws that will allow people to take guns to events organized close to the Republican party convention – but have not given assurances of how they will police the use of guns and banned objects in crowded areas, where the atmosphere is likely to be highly charged.
Guns will not be allowed into the convention itself, which is being held inside the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland and policed by the secret service, or inside a tight perimeter immediately surrounding the venue.
But in a broad space outside those inner security rings, near the arena, in a large area loosely known as the event zone, guns will be allowed in an open-carry situation and, with a valid permit, to be carried while concealed.
While guns will be allowed in that zone, toy guns are banned. The city has declared a long list of other items that are prohibited from being taken into the event zone during the convention, which begins on Monday with the GOP readying itself to anoint Donald Trump as its nominee for the White House.
Prohibited items range from glass bottles to lengths of rope and knives, and from tennis balls to lasers, gas masks, sledgehammers and drones, according to a list issued by the Cleveland authorities. Umbrellas with sharp tips are banned. So are pellet guns. But ordinary guns and bullets must be permitted if legally toted, because of an Ohio law that carrying a firearm is not prohibited……………
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