Hollande extends state of emergency in France by three months
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French president Francois Hollande has extended the state of emergency in France which was due to end on July 26, 2016, in wake of the recent terror attack in Nice which has killed 80 people said a report in Reuters.
An attacker killed 80 people, including children, when he drove a truck at high speed into crowds watching Bastille Day fireworks in the French Riviera city of Nice late on Thursday. French President Francoise Hollande said that it could not be denied that the incident was a "terror attack," according to a Reuters translation of the president's address on the deadly event.
Police shot and killed the driver, who drove a 25-ton, unmarked truck at high speed for more than 100 meters along the famed Promenade des Anglais seafront in the southern resort town before hitting a mass of spectators, regional sub-prefect Sebastien Humbert had told France Info radio.
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.
In his address iearlier n Paris, Hollande said that 77 people had been killed in the attack and that a state of emergency that had been due to expire on July 26 would be extended by three months. 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 to Nice on Friday to support the region.
The death toll had mounted throughout the evening in France, rising swiftly from an estimated 60 dead. CNBC was unable to independently confirm the numbers.
According to Reuters, regional president Christian Estrosi told BFM TV that the driver had opened fire on the crowd and that weapons and grenades were found inside the truck after the attacker was killed by police.
Almost exactly eight months ago Islamic State militants killed 130 people in Paris on Nov. 13, the bloodiest in a number of attacks in France and Belgium in the past two years. On Sunday, France had breathed a sigh of relief as the month-long Euro 2016 soccer tournament ended without a feared attack.
Police denied rumors on social media about a subsequent hostage taking.
