Supporters of Islamic State celebrated on social media an attack in France by a truck that ran into crowds watching a fireworks display on the Bastille Day national holiday, killing at least 77 people and injuring 100.
Supporters of Islamic State celebrated on social media an attack in France by a truck that ran into crowds watching a fireworks display on the Bastille Day national holiday, killing at least 77 people and injuring 100.
"The number of those killed had reached 62 french crusaders and sinful infidels in Nice, France.. God is great, God is great," read one tweet.
The driver drove at high speed for over 100 metres (yards) along the famed Promenade des Anglais seafront in the French Riviera city of Nice before hitting the mass of spectators. The driver was shot dead, sub-prefect Sebastien Humbert told France Infos radio.
Humbert described it as a clear criminal attack. The driver was not yet identified. Residents of the Mediterranean city, which is close to the Italian border, were advised to stay indoors. There was no sign of any other attack.
Almost exactly eight months ago Islamic State militants killed 130 people in Paris. On Sunday, France had breathed a sigh of relief as the month-long Euro 2016 soccer tournament ended without a feared attack.
HIDING IN TERROR
One woman told France Info that she and others had fled in terror: "The lorry came zig-zagging along the street. We ran into a hotel and hid in the toilets with lots of people."
Regional government chief Estrosi has warned in the past of the risk of Islamist attacks in the region, following the attacks in Paris and Brussels over the past 18 months.
Nice, a city of some 350,000 that has a history as a flamboyant resort but is also a gritty metropolis, has seen some of its Muslim residents travel to Syria to fight, a path taken by previous Islamic State attackers in Europe.
"Neither the place nor the date are coincidental," a former French intelligence agent and security consultant, Claude Moniquet, told France-Info, noting the jihadist presence in Nice and the fact that July 14 marks France's 1789 revolution.
"Tragic paradox that the subject of Nice attack was the people celebrating liberty, equality and fraternity," European Council President Donald Tusk said on Twitter.
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