Bastille Day truck terror attack: killing at least 80 people in Nice, France

A terrorist gunman killed at least 80 people and wounded scores when he drove a heavy truck at high speed into a crowd watching Bastille Day fireworks in the French Riviera city of Nice late on Thursday.

The driver was shot dead by police after barrelling the truck two kilometres (1,3 miles) through the festive crowd on the palm-lined Promenade des Anglais, sending hundreds fleeing in terror and leaving the area strewn with bodies.

French President, Francoise Hollande, said the attack was undeniably of a terrorist nature, according to a Reuters translation of the president's national address on television at 4 a.m. local time. The act was a "monstrous" one, he said, and the victims included "many children."

The incident occurred around 10.40 p.m. local time. Photographs of the truck show its windshield scored by bullet holes and its front grille destroyed.

Authorities said they found identity papers belonging to a 31-year-old French-Tunisian citizen in the truck, as well as "guns, larger weapons and grenades."

In a pre-dawn address to the nation, French President called up military and police reservists to relieve forces worn out by an eight-month state of emergency begun after the Islamic State militant group killed 130 people in Paris. The state of emergency has been extended.

The president also said that the country would maintain the 10,000 strong additional military force that was working on security operations. He said he would travel Nice on Friday to support the region.

"France is filled with sadness by this new tragedy," Hollande said, noting several children were among the dead in what he said, he had no doubt was an act of terrorism.

The death toll had mounted throughout the evening in France, rising swiftly from an estimated 60 dead. Even as Hollande spoke, there were multiple reports that the French Ministry of  the Interior had increased the number of fatalities had risen to 80.

Interior Ministry, Bernard Cazeneuve told APTN, "the toll is extremely heavy, 80 people have died, 18 are in a critical condition and many others injured."

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