Attack In France Kills 75 During Bastille Day Celebration
NICE, France (WWJ/AP) - The death toll rises in France after a truck plows into a crowd in France celebrating Bastille Day.
The ranking politician of the Alpes-Maritime department that includes Nice says the truck plowed into the crowd over a distance of two kilometers (more than a mile), killing 75 people and wounding 50.
Eric Ciotti said on BFM TV that police killed the driver "apparently after an exchange of gunfire."
The Paris prosecutor's office opened an investigation for "murder, attempted murder in an organized group linked to a terrorist enterprise." The probe is being handled by France's intelligence agency and judicial police.
Writing online, Nice Matin journalist Damien Allemand who was at the waterside said the fireworks display had finished and the crowd had got up to leave when they heard a noise and cries.
"A fraction of a second later, an enormous white truck came along at a crazy speed, turning the wheel to mow down the maximum number of people," he said.
"I saw bodies flying like bowling pins along its route. Heard noises, cries that I will never forget."
Allemand said people took shelter in a nearby restaurant, where he continued to hear people shouting for missing family members. He ventured out and saw bodies, blood and body parts all along the road.
"This evening, it was horror," Allemand concluded.
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