Witnesses describe the terror and chaos after an armed man ploughed into crowds celebrating France’s national day in Nice
• Armed man drove truck at high speeds through crowd for 2km
• ‘A truck smashed into everyone. Everyone’ – video
• Are you in Nice?
9.33am BST
A Downing Street spokesman said:
“The Prime Minister is being kept updated on reports coming in from Nice.
9.31am BST
Britain’s new foreign secretary, Boris Johnson, has confirmed that one British citizen was injured in the attack.
9.24am BST
The Vatican has joined international condemnation of the attack.
Federico Lombardi, Vatican spokesman, said:
Throughout the night we have followed with great concern the terrible news from Nice. On behalf of Pope Francis, we join in solidarity with the suffering of the victims and of the entire French people this day that should have been a great holiday. We condemn in the strongest way every demonstration of senseless violence, of hatred, terrorism and any attack against peace.
9.20am BST
The latest stage of the Tour de France is going ahead today after minute’s silence was held for the victims of the Nice attack.
Minute de silence au départ / Minute of silence at the start this morning #PrayForNice pic.twitter.com/FMihoxKNUZ
Prudhomme; 'the stage goes ahead, the Tour will continue in dignity, we will not give in to people who want to change our way of life'
Prudhomme visibly moved: minute's silence also at the finish with all the classification leaders
9.15am BST
The seafront, usually packed with tourists setting up for a day at the beach in Nice, was tragically silent this Friday morning, writes Sofia Fischer.
Windows were shut tight and all cafés and convenience stores remained closed for the day, as residents have barricaded themselves inside their homes. The few who have ventured outside to walk their dogs did so silently, sometimes hugging their neighbours as they crossed paths.
9.06am BST
8.46am BST
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8.43am BST
The incident is being widely described as a “terrorist” attack, but the motive of the driver, who was shot dead by police after killing at least 84 people, is not known.
The driver, a 31-year-old Franco-Tunisian born in Tunisia, was known to the police but not the intelligence services, a police told Reuters.
For the avoidance of any doubt: #IS has not issued any official communications regarding #Nice.
IS Supporters Celebrate Attack in Nice: “They Brought This to Themselves” https://t.co/FKntUlacXh
8.25am BST
Spain’s acting prime minister, Mariano Rajoy, has just addressed the country in the wake of the Nice attack. He said:
8.19am BST
This from my colleague Oliver Duggan:
There have been 12 terror attacks in the EU since July 2012. Seven of them in France, killing 244 - five times more than rest combined #Nice
Jo wld ask us not 2 fight hate with hate but draw together 2 drain the swamp that extremism breeds in.Thinking of all victims of hatred 2day
8.15am BST
The whole esplanade is on lock down and the streets are empty after people were advised to stay home, Sophie Fischer writes from Nice.
Police are patrolling every entry to promenade and are refusing passage to everyone, even journalists. Employees of the hotels on the promenade are having trouble getting to work and are being searched. All we see on the streets are tourists with their luggage and children hurrying back to the airport, and a couple of witnesses wrapped up in blankets shaking their heads, crying.
8.03am BST
Spectator assistant editor Isabel Hardman was walking back from watching fireworks on the Promenade des Anglais in Nice when the attack occurred.
“Nobody knew what they were running from,” she says.
7.57am BST
Labour leadership candidate, Owen Smith, has cancelled a planned campaign launch today.
In light of the heartbreaking news from Nice, I am cancelling today's campaign launch. Solidarité et fraternité avec le peuple Français.
7.54am BST
"L'horreur, à nouveau" La une de la dernière édition de @Le_Figaro #Nice #attentat pic.twitter.com/GjB9Dqz5ET
La une de Nice-Matin du vendredi 15 juillet : carnage à Nice, neuf pages spéciales #Nice06 pic.twitter.com/5ifSQPClyI
#Nice06 : @laprovence consacre dans son éd. de #Marseille une double page événement au drame https://t.co/SJuyiaSl7O pic.twitter.com/TROQFo7Ot9
La Une du @lesoir ce vendredi 15 juillet: "L'horreur à #Nice" https://t.co/cwwapndmZo pic.twitter.com/9wfZoSg4fZ
#Nice Portada de @le_Parisien pic.twitter.com/Sr7UHooaYK
7.50am BST
Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has made a statement about Nice on Facebook, expressing condolences but also complaining that the west should focus on real threats from terrorism and not on “hybrid” threats. (Russia’s war in Ukraine has been described as a “hybrid war”)
Let’s not fight with ‘hybrid threats’ but with real ones. Let’s do it together, because we are all the same when we die at the hands of terrorists and extremists. It’s time to smooth over our differences before this kind of tragedy, and not only afterwards.
“Terrorism knows no borders and is a common challenge for both Europe and Asia. Together we must look for a response to challenges like this, demonstrate solidarity, and make every effort to fight terrorism. Force is all terrorists and their sponsors understand, and that is what we must use.”
7.47am BST
Italy has tightened border controls at three road crossings into France and at the Ventimiglia train link between the two countries. The Italian interior minister, Angelino Alfano, tweeted: “Our security apparatus is at work.” He also said he was due to get a counter-terrorism briefing later this morning.
Rafforzati controlli ai tre valichi terrestri e a quello ferroviario #Ventimiglia. I nostri apparati di sicurezza sono al lavoro. #Nizza
Ho convocato per domattina alle 9 al Viminale il Comitato Analisi Strategica Antiterrorismo #Nizza
7.36am BST
There has been swift and widespread international condemnation.
The United Nations security council said it “condemned in the strongest terms the barbaric and cowardly terrorist attack”.
My deepest condolences to France, those who suffered in this heinous act of terror in Nice and families of victims https://t.co/OiafU5zfKh
#AttentatNice is an attack on us all. An attack on democracy & human rights. Denmark is with France and the victims' families in the sorrow
#ASEM11 plénière: "Vive la #France et sa République qui aujourd'hui est aussi la nôtre." #Nice06 pic.twitter.com/JSH0XMKm31
Prime Minister Trudeau extends his deepest condolences to the families and friends of those killed in Nice, France: https://t.co/rCNZncJFvA
Toutes mes pensées pour les victimes de l'attentat ignoble et lâche de #Nice. Solidarité avec la #France.
My deepest condolences to the victims of the attack in Nice and their families. We stand together with France to end these acts of terror.
7.27am BST
Witnesses have continued to described horrific scenes. Wassim Bouhel told the French TV channel iTele that the lorry zigzagged across the road.
“We almost died. It was like hallucinating ... (the lorry) zigzagged - you had no idea where it was going. My wife ... a metre away ... she was dead. The lorry ripped through everything ... poles, trees. We have never seen anything like it. Some people were hanging on the door and tried to stop it.”
“It was shocking, it was devastating and I cannot believe that I have come over here for a few days and I have got mixed up in something so tragic. It was just awful. I said to my friend ‘This doesn’t sound like fireworks, it sounds like Beirut when it’s under fire’. All of a sudden people were screaming in the streets and running into all the restaurants. All the restaurants were open and people were coming. We were just sitting there and everyone came into our restaurant and the owners were saying ‘Please don’t go anywhere, come in, come in’.
“It was quite chaotic really. There was a lot of people screaming, running around and people were kind of being pushed over, I think, from people just being so frightened about what was going on especially after hearing the gunshots. I had to help a couple of people up who were in distress on the floor because everyone was in such a panic.”
6.58am BST
Social media users have reacted with horror to the attack, using the hashtags #Nice06, #prayforNice and #porteouverte (door open) to express their sorrow and solidarity.
There are no words for this madness. #Nice pic.twitter.com/MNkjqYW0bx
Watching the news, horrific events in #Nice #France sad day pic.twitter.com/xzThRpTVQK
So sad... #Nice06 pic.twitter.com/QmHHV84xVb
6.42am BST
The gunman who killed at least 80 people when he drove a heavy truck into a crowd in Nice was a 31-year-old Franco-Tunisian born in Tunisia, a police source close to the investigation has told Reuters news agency.
The man was not on the watchlist of French intelligence services but was known to police in connection with common law crimes such as theft and violence, the source said.
6.36am BST
#BREAKING: Nice truck attack death toll rises to 84: interior ministry
6.33am BST
Australia’s foreign minister, Julie Bishop, has confirmed that three Australians are among the injured. They were fleeing the attack when they were hurt, she said.
Bishop: The overall level of advice for France hasn't changed. We continue to advise Australians to exercise a high degree of caution #Nice
6.26am BST
A witness, John Curtis, has emailed from Nice to describe the chaos that unfolded when the attack took place.
We’re renting an apartment in Nice in rue Andrioli, about two or three hundred metres west of the [hotel] Negresco. We watched the fireworks sitting on a wall overlooking the beach.
There were thousands of people including lots of families with young children. When the fireworks were over we walked back along the the Promenade des Anglais. There were no cars and the wide dual-carriageway was completely taken over by pedestrians.
6.24am BST
Laurence Marie from the Lenval paediatric hospital has told Reuters news agency that “many” children were undergoing serious operations there.
6.17am BST
As dawn breaks on the Promenade des Anglais, many relatives of the missing are still searching for their loved ones.
6.00am BST
5.44am BST
The truck driver who rammed his vehicle into a crowd in Nice fired a pistol several times before being shot dead by police, a local official has told Agence France-Presse.
“At the moment that he was shot dead by police, he had fired several times,” said the president of the region, Christian Estrosi.
5.39am BST
The French TV station BFM is reporting that the driver of the truck was known to police, but not for terrorism offences. The Guardian is not able to confirm the report at this stage.
5.33am BST
Witnesses have told of how parents threw their children over fences to safety as a “stampede” of people rushed down the Promenade des Anglais.
Ismali Khalidi, a US-Palestinian writer who was in the southern French city to visit his sister, told the Guardian: “I have never seen that level of chaos and hysteria and terror.”
Related: Bastille Day partygoers throw children to safety as truck attack sparks stampede
5.19am BST
The French illustrator @Louison_A has shared this image on Twitter.
Non. #Nice pic.twitter.com/ukaMCHJAmZ
5.15am BST
Britain’s new foreign secretary, Boris Johnson, has joined the politicians condemning the attack.
Shocked and saddened by the appalling events in Nice, and the terrible loss of life.
5.12am BST
After November’s Paris attacks, the French government put in place a state of emergency, which restricts civil liberties. It allows police to conduct searches without a warrant and place people under house arrest outside the normal legal process.
A French parliamentary investigation into last year’s terrorist attacks on Paris has identified multiple failings by France’s intelligence agencies.
Related: From Charlie Hebdo to Bastille Day: France reels after new deadly attack
5.06am BST
Facebook activated its safety check after the attack in Nice.
It’s the third time in five weeks that the social network has deployed the tool, which lets Facebook users who are at or near the site of a natural disaster or terrorist attack inform their friends on the network that they are safe.
4.49am BST
Nice hospitals have launched an appeal for blood donations in the wake of the attacks.
#nice06 > Les hôpitaux lancent un appel aux dons de sang. L'EFS de Nice > 45 rue Auguste Gal à Nice ouvre à 9h30 https://t.co/Lixb3xuKea
4.40am BST
The French prime minister, Manuel Valls, has tweeted: “The city of Nice has been hit by terrorism on the day of our national holiday. Immense pain, the country is in mourning. The French will face it.”
La ville de Nice frappée par le terrorisme le jour de notre Fête nationale. Immense douleur, le pays est en deuil. Les Français feront face.
4.38am BST
The British ambassador to France, Julian King, said the embassy’s crisis centre had been activated.
Thoughts with the victims and their families. Our Embassy crisis center has been activated. https://t.co/jtIxD8Nbqg
4.27am BST
John Kerry, the US secretary of state, has released a statement on the attacks:
Today’s horrendous attack in Nice is an attack against innocent people on a day that celebrates liberty, equality, and fraternity.
On behalf of all Americans, and especially the great many with close ties to France, I offer our deepest condolences to the friends and family of those who were killed and our hopes for a speedy recovery to those who were injured.
I was proud to stand alongside French leaders earlier today at Bastille Day celebrations in Paris, and the United States will continue to stand firmly with the French people during this time of tragedy. We will provide whatever support is needed.
Our embassy in Paris is making every effort to account for the welfare of US citizens in Nice. Any US citizens in Nice should contact friends and family directly to inform them of their wellbeing.
4.22am BST
4.19am BST
The UN has joined international condemnation of the attack, calling it “cowardly and barbaric”.
Conseil de sécurité uni contre attaque terroriste à Nice. Tous les membres sont solidaires des victimes & familles. pic.twitter.com/J3oaenEyvV
We mourn for the victims of another murderous act of terror in France overnight, on Bastille Day https://t.co/BZ18IJJaKb
Our hearts are breaking for the people of France, again. OPD stands with you & grieves with you. #Nice #BastilleDay pic.twitter.com/WcHYGcUxKx
European and Asian leaders pay respect to victims of #Nice attack. We stand united against violence and hatred pic.twitter.com/NU0IRhZd7H
Canadians are shocked by tonight's attack in Nice. Our sympathy is with the victims, and our solidarity with the French people.
3.58am BST
3.47am BST
Hours after the Nice attacks, the French president, François Hollande, reiterated the war-like stance he took after the last terrorist attacks that killed 130 in Paris in November.
“All of France is under threat from Islamist terrorism,” he said, vowing that France would not give in in its “fight against terrorism”.
3.37am BST
Chinese state media are reporting that two Chinese citizens are among those injured in Nice.
Speaking while on a visit to Mongolia, the Chinese prime minister, Li Keqiang, condemned “terrorism in all forms” and offered his condolences to the victims and their families.
3.34am BST
I’ve just spoken to the US-Palestinian writer Ismail Khalidi, who was watching the Bastille Day fireworks at the Promenade des Anglais about 800 metres west of the Hotel Negresco.
Khalidi said he was with a group who were trying to leave the promenade after the fireworks to avoid the crowd, who he said already felt pushy and unsafe, when people began running toward them. It was about 10 minutes after the fireworks had finished:
All of a sudden we saw essentially a stampede of people coming along the Promenade des Anglais.
The stampede just sort of kept coming … we are talking families, hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of people.
Then all of a sudden the stampede started coming from the other direction.
I’ve never seen a stampede like that. I have never seen that level of chaos and hysteria and terror and a total lack of information about what’s going on.
3.31am BST
Zena John, a British tourist on holiday in Nice with her sister, has described how the evening quickly changed from one of celebration to terror.
Tonight was an amazing, memorable atmosphere for us. We’d had a lovely meal just next to Rue Masséna.
We had just finished watching the fireworks and had scarcely returned to sit down when we saw people running and then I started hearing gunshots.
I shouted at my sister and friends to run but they were hesitant, trying to look and I shouted again.
We all ran down our side street and as we opened our gate, many people streamed in behind us. We could hear gunshots very very close.
We came in and many people came and waited on the ground floor of our flat till things calmed down.
We have a Polish lady sleeping in our flat right now as she lost her partner in the kerfuffle. Sad, sad day.
3.24am BST
Bernard Cazeneuve is holding a press conference. He says 80 are people dead and 18 are in intensive care.
“Our thoughts go to all the people of Nice who tonight are traumatised and plunged into a great state of worry,” he said.
Interior minister Cazeneuve in #Nice: “We're at war with terrorists who want to hit us at any cost and in a very violent way”.
3.16am BST
The Republican and Democratic presidential candidates have responded to the attack in France with phone-in appearances on US TV networks, offering divergent views over what they both called a “war” against terrorists.
Donald Trump, who has postponed the unveiling of his vice presidential running mate in response to the attack in Nice, indicated he would be prepared to seek a formal declaration of war from the US Congress and commit ground troops to the conflict.
3.11am BST
2.50am BST
The French president, François Hollande, has confirmed that 77 people have died “including children”. He says it cannot be denied that it was a terrorist attack.
He says:
France has been struck on the day of her national holiday ... the symbol of liberty.
We show our solidarity towards the victims and their families.
All means are being deployed to help the wounded.
France as a whole is under the threat of Islamist terrorism. We have to demonstrate absolute vigilance and show determination that is unfailing.
Therefore I have decided to first maintain a high level of police forces, with 10,00 military staff, as well as our police forces. I have also decided to ask military volunteers to join and help our police forces.
I have decided that the state of emergency which was supposed to end on July 26 will be extended by three months.”
Nothing will lead us to give in to our will to fight against terrorism. We are going to strengthen our efforts in Syria and Iraq against those who are attacking us on our very soil.”
Pres. Hollande: Horror has struck France again. France will always be strong. https://t.co/aDPHrg81eI https://t.co/2JB66uSIii
2.37am BST
Both the French TV station BFM and the local newspaper Nice-Matin are reporting that the driver is a 31-year-old with dual French-Tunisian nationality.
BFM is quoting a police source via Agence France-Presse who said an ID card had been found inside the truck. Reports say the man was a Nice resident.
INFO NICE-MATIN. Un Niçois d'origine tunisienne au volant du camion #AttentatNice https://t.co/hklMbEMcO1 pic.twitter.com/fOIQNS5UN4
2.26am BST
Related: Bastille Day truck attack: truck kills more than 70 in France – in pictures
2.22am BST
The president of the region that includes Nice has announced that the city’s jazz festival, due to open on Saturday, and a Rihanna concert planned for Friday evening, have both been cancelled after the deadly truck attack.
Christian Estrosi said flags would be lowered across the city on Friday.
Dès demain les drapeaux de la ville seront en berne. Après l'annulation du concert de Rihanna, le festival du jazz est annulé.
2.20am BST
Le Figaro’s front page:
EN DIRECT - "L'horreur, à nouveau" à la une du Figaro >> https://t.co/2F6oHpGeRM pic.twitter.com/5CbE3VlzDj
2.13am BST
Attentat de Nice : allocution télévisée de Hollande vers 03H30 (Elysée) #AFP
2.12am BST
An Australian tourist in Nice has told the Australian Associated Press she could hear gunshots as the truck ploughed through crowds.
Katie Baronie Shaw, 21, said she and a friend had walked from a foreshore fireworks display to a nearby bar when the music stopped and gunfire rang out.
“We had no idea what was going on. Then all we could hear was gunshots. My friend just grabbed me and we all went out the back stairs and had to sprint out, staying low, with guys ushering us away from the foreshore.”
Shaw sheltered inside the bar as staff pushed everyone to the back and pulled down roller doors.
“We just sprinted, heads down. I’ve never been so terrified in my life.”
2.06am BST
The French Muslim Council has condemned the attack “with the greatest vigour”.
The council statement says: “France has been hit yet another time by a terrorist attack of the utmost severity,” adding that this “odious terrorist act took aim at our country on the very day of its national holiday, a day which celebrates liberty, equality and fraternity”.
1.58am BST
Family members and friends of those who have not been in touch since the attack have been posting their details on Twitter in the hope of finding them.
Théo 15 ans en vacance a côté de Nice si vous l'avez vu merci de me tenir au courant en dm #Nice06 #Attentat pic.twitter.com/nWPNDpKfJO
ON RECHERCHE FLORENCE, LAURENT ET ALEXIS CE SOIR #Nice06 #PortesOuvertesNice #Nice pic.twitter.com/TVt0jaqV7m
Here is a photo of our colleague @Matthiasgalante . We last spoke to him at 17h but no news since. #Nice06 pic.twitter.com/O90yn830QH
1.54am BST
1.48am BST
1.47am BST
Christian Estrosi, the president of the Nice region, has told iTélé that the death toll is now 77.
77 morts à #Nice selon Christian Estrosi cité par iTele pic.twitter.com/26LRItAs70
1.33am BST
The lobby of the Hotel Negresco has been turned into a makeshift hospital.
#NiceAttentat : dans le hall du Negresco transformé en hôpital. Les témoins sont entendus par les enquêteurs pic.twitter.com/FsBjNfRVQw
1.23am BST
1.15am BST
Minutes ago the president of the Nice region, Christian Estrosi, held a press conference. He said:
This is the worst catastrophe our region has seen in modern history. We now have to mobilise all of our services, all the psychologists, volunteers who are trained to help fellow human beings.
We will work with the imams, priests and rabbis who will also join us to help the victims and families who are suffering and will probably never heal their wounds ... I want to thank people who welcomed passersby and those people who show us tonight that hopefully, solidarity still exists in a world that is too egoistical and individualistic.
1.06am BST
An Australian witness has described the panic in the aftermath of the attack. Sophie Sanderlands said there were “strollers on the ground, people crammed into restaurants”.
Sophie Sanderlands is on holiday in France and has described the moment she saw thousands of people sprinting #sun7 https://t.co/bmUF3hpdbv
1.01am BST
On behalf of the American people, I condemn in the strongest terms what appears to be a horrific terrorist attack in Nice, France, which killed and wounded dozens of innocent civilians. Our thoughts and prayers are with the families and other loved ones of those killed, and we wish a full recovery for the many wounded.
I have directed my team to be in touch with French officials, and we have offered any assistance that they may need to investigate this attack and bring those responsible to justice. We stand in solidarity and partnership with France, our oldest ally, as they respond to and recover from this attack.
On this Bastille Day, we are reminded of the extraordinary resilience and democratic values that have made France an inspiration to the entire world, and we know that the character of the French republic will endure long after this devastating and tragic loss of life.
12.59am BST
A French parliamentary investigation into last year’s terrorist attacks on Paris last week identified multiple failings by France’s intelligence agencies.
The parliamentary commission was set up to assess the failure to prevent a series of attacks that killed a total of 147 people in 2015 – from January’s gun attacks on the Charlie Hebdo offices and a kosher grocery store to the coordinated gun and bomb attacks on 13 November outside the national sports stadium, at bars and restaurants and at a rock gig at the Bataclan concert hall.
12.53am BST
12.49am BST
A spokesman for the interior ministry confirms that – contrary to some reports – no hostages were taken.
“There is no hostage taking,” an interior ministry spokesman, Pierre-Henry Brandet, told AFP, denying dozens of rumours after the attack.
12.45am BST
The date of the attack — France’s national day of celebration — was seen as symbolic only eight months after 130 people were killed in November’s coordinated Paris attacks on a stadium, bars and a rock gig at the Bataclan.
Bastille Day, the most important holiday in France and the equivalent to the 4th of July in the US, marks the day a mob stormed a fortress known for holding political prisoners on 14 July 1789.
At the time, France was in economic and political crisis. Taxes were high and food was scarce. There was widespread anger and resentment towards Louis XVI and the increasing militarisation of France.
12.35am BST
Some of the front pages from French and British newspapers:
Tomorrows Le Parisien front page pic.twitter.com/ASvbfkPsQO
Updated Times front page:
Dozens of revellers dead in Bastille Day massacre#tomorrowspaperstoday #bbcpapers #Nice pic.twitter.com/AE6hxQ8F7H
Updated Telegraph front page:
Dozens killed as terror strikes French Riviera#tomorrowspaperstoday #bbcpapers #Nice pic.twitter.com/rJK1IOylyo
12.32am BST
Two weeks ago before the Nice attack, the authorities in France had announced that they were beefing up security measures for the holiday season by deploying armed police patrols on the beaches.
Officers belonging to the CRS riot police force, who have previously been equipped with batons and handcuffs, were allowed to wear special holsters carrying weapons for the first time. Bulletproof vests were also to be put at their disposal.
Related: Armed police to patrol French beaches amid terrorism fears
12.29am BST
The central hospital in Nice has released a number for families of the victims.
Le Planc Blanc a été déclenché, le numéro de téléphone pour les familles :
04 93 72 22 22
The Irish Embassy in Paris has asked anyone who needs assistance in #Nice to contact them at +33 (0)144176700
DFAT release re the ongoing incident in Nice, France pic.twitter.com/7hbsVq55h1
12.21am BST
Christian Estrosi, president of the region, says the truck in Nice was loaded with weapons and grenades, according to AP.
Estrosi told BFM TV: “The driver fired on the crowd, according to the police who killed him.”
12.20am BST
Le Figaro reports that, according to the interior ministry, investigators are currently looking for potential accomplice but confirms that there was no hostage taking.
12.18am BST
In light of the horrible attack in Nice, France, I have postponed tomorrow's news conference concerning my Vice Presidential announcement.
12.11am BST
Nicolas Sarkozy, the former French president, has voiced his solidarity with the residents of Nice.
Emotion profonde et tristesse infinie face à l'attaque à #Nice06. Solidarité à l'égard des #Niçois et des habitants des Alpes-Maritimes.
12.04am BST
France’s iTélé TV channel is quoting an unnamed police source who says the death toll is now 73.
12.01am BST
The interior ministry has confirmed that the driver of the truck, which ploughed through crowds on the Nice promenade, has been neutralised.
.@PHBrandet (porte-parole) : l'individu qui conduisait le camion a été neutralisé. L'enquête déterminera s'il a agi seul #Nice
11.57pm BST
The French president, François Hollande, is heading to the interior ministry’s crisis centre, Reuters reports.
The French presidency said on its Twitter feed that the government had activated the inter-ministerial crisis centre following the attack in Nice.
11.56pm BST
Maryam Violet, an Iranian journalist visiting Nice on holiday, told the Guardian she saw the lorry running over people as they walked in the pedestrian area after the fireworks had finished.
“Everyone was completely shocked, I saw that suddenly people were fleeing and shouting,” she said over the phone from Nice. “People were shouting, ‘It’s a terrorist attack, it’s a terrorist attack,’ it was clear that the driver was doing it deliberately,” she said.
11.52pm BST
Donald Trump has been quick to deliver his take.
Another horrific attack, this time in Nice, France. Many dead and injured. When will we learn? It is only getting worse.
11.51pm BST
Bonnie Malkin here, taking over the blog from Kevin Rawlinson.
Tony Molina, a witness to the attack, has told CNN that he watched the chaos unfold from his hotel room on the promenade.
11.41pm BST
The US president, Barack Obama, has been appraised of the situation and will be updated as appropriate, the White House says.
11.39pm BST
The Nice prosecutor’s office is being quoted by the iTélé TV channel that 60 people are now feared dead.
11.28pm BST
A witness has told the Associated Press that he saw the truck driver emerge from the vehicle with a gun and start shooting after ploughing into the crowd.
Wassim Bouhlel, a Nice native who spoke to the agency near the city’s Promenade du Paillon, said: “There was carnage on the road. Bodies everywhere.”
11.25pm BST
Sebastien Humbert, the prefect for the Alpes-Maritime area, has told BFM TV: “A truck rammed into the crowd over a long distance, which explains this extremely heavy toll.” According to Reuters, Humbert said the truck driver had been shot dead and that he was treating the incident as an attack at present.
11.23pm BST
The mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, has tweeted: “On behalf of all Parisians, all of our fraternal support [goes] to the people of Nice. Our cities are united.”
Au nom des Parisiens, tout notre soutien le plus fraternel au peuple niçois. Nos villes sont unies.
11.21pm BST
British security and government officials are monitoring the situation in Nice, as the seriousness of the incident escalated.
The initial details suggest a tactic that jihadi propaganda has suggested for several years, with a vehicle ploughing into a crowd. For instance, Inspire magazine – affiliated with al-Qaida – urged the tactic several years ago.
11.17pm BST
Nice-Matin quoted its own reporter at the scene as saying there were many injured people and blood on the street. It published the photograph below of the damaged, long-distance delivery truck, which it said was “riddled with bullets” and images of emergency services treating the injured.
Damien Allemand, the paper’s correspondent, was quoted as saying: “People are running. It’s panic. He rode up on to the Prom and piled into the crowd ... There are people covered in blood. There must be many injured.”
11.13pm BST
A witness is telling BFM TV that he heard shots fired but that he could see nothing of the driver of the truck. It was unclear who fired the shots the witness referred to.
11.11pm BST
There have been numerous reports that shots were fired during the incident, though it must be pointed out that they have not been confirmed by officials.
11.05pm BST
The local paper Nice-Matin: “If you are looking for a place to find cover, use #PortesOuvertesNice (doors open Nice)”
Si vous cherchez un lieu pour vous mettre à l'abri utilisez le #PortesOuvertesNice
11.03pm BST
Dreadful reports from Nice. Thoughts with all involved. https://t.co/iQ7FmyP0Gm
11.01pm BST
Reuters now reports that a French official has told local media that at least 30 people are dead and 100 injured. The driver is also dead, the local prefect reportedly said.
10.59pm BST
The Agence France-Presse says its reporter described seeing a white van driving at high speed on to the Promenade des Anglais, which is by the beach in Nice, as people were leaving after the Bastille Day celebration display.
“We saw people hit and bits of debris flying around,” he said, adding that the crash took place near the Hotel Negresco. Terrified pedestrians screamed as they fled the area. “It was absolute chaos,” he said.
10.52pm BST
Christian Estrosi, the official in question, tweeted: “The driver of a truck seems to have killed dozens of people. Stay indoors for the time being. More information is to follow.”
Cher niçois, le chauffeur d'un camion semble avoir fait des dizaines de morts. Restez pour le moment à votre domicile. Plus d'infos à venir
10.48pm BST
Dozens of people have been killed by a lorry that ploughed into crowds celebrating Bastille Day in Nice, according to the mayor of the southern French city.
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