Source: VALERY HACHE / Getty
A truck drove into a crowd at Bastille Day celebrations late Thursday in Nice, southern France, killing dozens of people.
- AFP reporting at least 84 people have died
- French President Francois Hollande: We cannot deny that it was a terror attack
- Truck driver shot into crowds before plowing into people for around 1.2 miles (2 kilometers) until he was shot to death by authorities
Eyewitness: ‘It was well-planned’
Eyewitness Andy McArdy works at Le Queenie, a restaurant on the Promenade des Anglais. He tells CNN of his shock that an attack like this has happened in Nice.
“Maybe though something would happen during the Euro 2016, but that passed without incident. Nice was a soft target, a family outing, people enjoying the music, the promenade.
He continued: “It was very well planned; they knew that the noise of fireworks would mask the noise of gunfire, so that people would think that they were hearing fireworks, instead of, sadly, live gunfire that killed people.”
Recalling the moment the truck appeared on the promenade, McArdy said: “He must have broken through the barriers … You could hear the pop, pop, pop. There were bodies everywhere.
“Everyone came rushing in the restaurant — about 100 people — trying to find safe passage. They ended up staying in the building until midnight, when police said it was safe to leave.
McArdy says the scene today has “an extremely eerie atmosphere.”
“Nothing has been cleaned away — the bodies have been removed, but the debris and the blood are still there.”
Scenes of emotion, shock at hospital
CNN’s Atika Shubert is outside the Pasteur Hospital in Nice, where some of the injured are being treated. Describing the scene, she says people are still clearly in shock while others were observed crying.
She tells of one man seen leaving the hospital with an ankle injury. He was rambling and briefly told CNN that he works in a restaurant on the road directly across from where the attack took place.
“He just kept driving, straight through. I work there. And my daughter. My daughter. I don’t know,” he said before walking away.
U.S. officials confirm 2 Americans killed
Three U.S. officials have confirmed that two Americans were killed in the Nice attack late Thursday night. They are not releasing the name of the victims at this time.
More world leaders, officials react
As people around the globe wake to hear news of the latest horrifying terror attack on French soil, world leaders and government officials are sharing their messages of support and solidarity with the people of France.
Britain’s new Foreign Minister, Boris Johnson said the UK’s thoughts are with France and Nice today.
“Obviously our thoughts are very much with France and with Nice, and an absolutely appalling incident. I think there’ll be ministerial meetings later on today to discuss the implications for this country, if any, although I don’t at this time know of any re-cross or implications for the UK. Clearly this represents a continuing threat, if this is a terrorist incident as it appears to be, represents a continuing threat to us in the whole of Europe and we must meet it together.”
Johnson said he is aware of one UK national who was injured in the attack.
Elsewhere, Egypt President Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi has also released a statement condemning the attack in the “strongest possible terms.”
It read: “The President extends his deepest sympathies and condolences to President Francois Hollande and the people and government of France for the victims of this brutal terrorist attack. President El Sisi emphasizes Egypt’s full solidarity with France and support of international efforts to combat terrorism which knows neither borders nor religion, claims the lives of innocent people and destroys indiscriminately in various countries in the world.”
French senator Nathalie Goulet tells CNN that Nice is “is a secure city” and the mayor had taken all necessary precautions.
“It was not predictable and that’s the lesson of the day. We can’t predict things,” she said. “He (the attacker) was not on the watch list.”
She added: “He was somebody you could meet on the street every single day. Five minutes before he was a citizen like any other … That’s what makes you think it’s so unbelievable and sick.
“We are all victims and it’s unbearable.”
Eyewitness recalls moment of attack
Tony Molina was with his family indoors when they heard a disturbance on the Promenade des Anglais. He recalls the moment they emerged outside to see the truck ram into a packed crowd of revelers.
“It took us a couple seconds to realize, hear the noise, go outside and then (we) just see this truck plummeting through people in front of us. Unfortunately we did see people getting hit and people scattering.”
Molina told CNN that previously his family had been walking along the promenade and witnessed a heavy military and law enforcement presence.
“We just felt very helpless to be looking down (the street) and seeing this unfold and not being able to do one thing about it,” he said.
CNN Military Analyst and former U.S. Air Force Colonel Cedric Leighton weighs in on why the attacker may have chosen Nice as his target.
He said: “In many ways it’s one of the easiest for targets for terrorists. I think the attack occurred in Nice probably because the Paris defenses were built up more than Nice. So they picked the unexpected areas outside of Paris that’s not likely to have as much security — that’s probably why Nice was chosen.”
Leighton said that the challenge French authorities face is maintaining “a persistent state of high readiness.”
He added: “The other problem is you can’t get inside the heads of these terrorists to know precisely where they’re going to be targeting people next. You can’t predict unless you’re inside the planning of those attacks.”
source: CNN.com
