15/07/2016 World News Today

I'm Christian Fraser live from the French city

of Nice where 84 people, including 10 children,

have been killed by a truck driven at speed into crowds

gathered speed directly targeting spectators and holidaymakers

in what's being described as a terrorist attack.

People were running everywhere, screaming.

In that moment, we understood that it's something serious.

The driver of the truck was finally shot and killed by police.

He's thought to be a 31-year-old French-Tunisian.

People fled in panic as the lorry drove along the city's promenade.

The French President says the country faces

We have an enemy who will continue to hate all the peoples,

all the countries, who put liberty as the essential value.

As the government here declares three days of national mourning,

a service is held at Nice cathedral to pay tribute to the victims.

Good evening, happening with alarming regularity, but this time

not with automatic weapons, not a suicide vest, but with a truck,

terrifyingly simple, just as effective and deadly. Throughout the

course of the Day today, in the hot sun, down here on the Promenade des

Anglais, police have been working on a crime scene that goes over one

mile. The truck driven by 31 euros Tunisia Mohamed Lahouaiej-Bouhlel

drove down the promenade without a shred of mercy. 84 people killed,

ten children, and 52 people remain in a critical condition.

The attack happened at around 11pm local time Nice,

on the seafront avenue, the Promenade des Anglais,

The road has been partially closed to allow pedestrians to use it

Eyewitnesses say the truck hit several people near

the Hotel Negresco, a well-known local landmark.

The hotel's lobby was used as a clearing station to treat

the wounded and offer emergency medical help.

The lorry continued along the Promenade until it had almost

reached the Palais de la Mediterranee.

Police say there was an exchange of gunfire,

which resulted in the driver, being shot dead.

President Hollande said he deplored what he called a terrorist attack

and announced an extension of the national state

We need to wait and see, there is no direct link to any terrorist group.

The prosecutor investigating says they are looking into the background

of the driver. There has been a national state of emergency in place

which will be extended for another three months.

Our Correspondent Lucy Williamson has our first report.

It contains images you may find distressing.

Each lovers, partygoers and children.

Hunted with the most mundane of weapons, a lorry.

It arrived as the fireworks were ending, crawling

onto the promenade before picking up speed and heading straight

Its first appearance caught on camera by this man.

Up until this very moment here, the truck actually didn't

run over anybody, yet there was a motorcyclist trying

to approach the truck, trying to open the door while driving.

He failed and fell off the motorcycle.

And then there were two police officers standing right here at that

very corner and they fired two gunshots at the driver

Up until then, the rampage took place.

The vehicle accelerated and ran in a very odd way,

It zigzagged for more than a mile through the street

Bodies were falling like skittles, one witness said.

Another saw parents throwing their children over fences

The police surrounded the car and they kept shooting him

I saw him dead already, I've saw his head outside

Again, the French police officer, when he saw me standing up

and filming, he came to be aggressively and yelled at me to get

And for all the people on the beach to run,

because maybe they thought there was a bomb in the car

or other people hiding inside the truck from behind.

At that moment, I realised that this is really something wrong

and I started to run with the people.

Police found a fake rifle, and into grenade, and very documents.

French officials say the driver was a local man,

a 31-year-old French Tunisian known to police for petty crimes.

Today, the only figures on Nice's empty sea

front was forensics team, picking their way through

France was just begin to feel safe again after the attacks last year,

safe enough even to come out and celebrate being French.

But as people ran, screaming, down the street, last night,

the sound of gunfire mimicking fireworks, that moment of national

pride and national unity became once again an individual race to survive.

Imad said he froze when he saw the lorry and then ran

Above the screams, he heard the lorry's engine just behind him,

And then when I jumped over the bench, I found myself...

I jumped onto a woman, she was laying on the ground.

I just closed my eyes and waited for the crash.

I was feeling I was going to die, I was feeling really, really scared.

I didn't know what to do, but I gave up on that moment.

Until I saw the bench breaking up, it was too loud and scary.

I looked at it and I found it destroyed.

The thing that was between me and the truck was a small bench.

The French president arriving in Nice today,

described the attack as a monstrosity.

Of the 200 people injured, he said 50 were hovering

TRANSLATION: We are facing a long battle because we are facing

an enemy who will continue to hate all the peoples, the countries,

who enjoy liberty, who put liberty as the essential value.

The flowers blooming on the barricades mark

a particular kind of pain, the slow knocking torture

Attacks that highlight the price of freedom, the failure

of fraternity and that brutal equaliser, death.

I think the most shocking thing about what happened last night was

this relentless procession of the truck down the road, it kept going

and lumbering and at 40 to 50 miles an hour, mowing down people in its

way, nothing to stop it. Only the actions of very brave police women

and men who were on the promenade who exchanged gunfire 300 metres

from where the lorry stopped, and again, eventually killing the

driver, ported to a halt. By that time, 84 people had been killed.

Our correspondent Jon Donnison has more details.

It was supposed to be a night of celebration.

It ended in confusion, chaos and carnage.

The attack started around 11pm local time, as thousands

of families strolled home after a night of fireworks.

The lorry was heading east along the Promenade des Anglais,

and picked up speed on a rampage that was to last

Within minutes, the first casualties were reported.

The driver began to swerve from side to side, trying to kill as many

He then careered into the pedestrian area.

Armed police opened fire, but couldn't stop him,

as he continued to plough through the crowd.

Eyewitnesses say he was travelling at around 50 mph.

You can see the Promenade des Anglais just behind the famous

Hotel Negresco at the bottom of this street.

By this point, several minutes into the attack,

he had already killed dozens of people and it was to be 300

or 400 more metres that way before he was finally stopped,

Finally, further down the promenade, using heavy fire, police managed

to stop the lorry and kill the driver, as people fled in panic.

Matthew Scouller, from Kingston upon Thames,

to be a dream holiday with his girlfriend.

Today, he knows they are lucky to be alive.

There was a lady in front of us on a scooter, with her kids,

She wasn't trampled, but there were people

People were picking up kids and running,

and the kids were crying, as you can imagine.

People didn't really know what was going on.

This was not a high-tech attack, but the brutality and the banality

of the method make it all the more terrifying.

It very difficult thing to come to terms with those who were here, it

Bastille day separations are very colourful and loud, and they can be

very confusing, they can be. Let's speak to an eyewitness,

Simon Coates. I know this has been a difficult day

for your wife, I will speak to you. Tell me what you saw. We just left

the fireworks and we both cycling home along the cycle track of the

promenade. We got separated in the crowd, and as I was halfway home,

about one kilometre from here, I saw that there was a white van veering

down the promenade, actually on the pedestrian section. At first I

thought it was out of control, but then I heard the screams and I

realised it was aiming at people and it was not out of control, the

driver was directing it at people. Within a few seconds, it was almost

upon me. I looked to my left and there was an older man, and a young

boy, about ten, the truck aimed straight for them. I dived slightly

to my right, the little boy, I do not know how, he managed to get away

by inches with the truck aimed at him. I then realised that this guy

was heading straight towards where I expected my wife would be coming so

I turned around and followed the truck, and awaited devastation, body

after body. I must have checked about four dozen, five dozen people

to see if it was my wife. So you had lost your wife Eddie

to see if it was my wife. So you had lost your wife and you did not know

if she was one of these people? That's right, I didn't know. I was

cycling past trying to identify whether one of these people were my

wife. Some of the people had been hit head on, a lot had been dragged

under the lorry and were not recognisable, so I was looking to

see if I could recognise her bike or item of clothing or shoes. I did not

see anybody that I recognised that I was not completely reassured so I

followed the white lorry until it came to stop behind us by the Hotel

Negresco, yards beyond that. I got to within 20 yards and I saw the

policeman was standing there pointing his gun into the passenger

window. I realised that there were no further bodies, no more to check

beyond that. And the police were screaming to get away, they thought

there was a bomb. So I turned round as quickly as I could. The ground

was very slippery with what was left of some people. And I almost fell

over. But I managed to turn around and head back up the promenade. And

I saw some dreadful things. It was like a chamber of horrors. Every

person seemed to have died in an increasingly grotesque way. And all

that horror, mixed with the terror that Amanda had been caught up in

it. Yes, I did not know if she was alive or dead. I tried ringing her

but her phone was not switched on. It had no charge. It took about 20

minutes before we were able to get to each other. And that was the

longest 20 minutes of my life. I know you did not want to speak, but

you had to cycle path this as well. Is it your firm belief that those

brave policeman, if they had not had jumped in... If they had not done

what they had done, when I arrived, I could see that there was almost an

open road before this man. The reason he had come off the promenade

is because there was a gazebo which had stopped his progress so he had

veered onto the road. If he had not been stopped, she would have been

into the major crowds. There were drips and drabs, he killed 84

people, they were in dribs and drabs. If he had got into the

hundreds of thousands, they could have all died. Were it not for them,

this could have been... It is bad enough now, but it could have been

in calculable Lee Westwood. A policeman -- it hack could have been

so much worse. I hear a policewoman was involved, he/she jumped onto the

cab. How do you -- she jumped onto the cab. How do you come to terms

with it? The may be important thing is that my wife is safe, that is a

big part. You are left wondering how you can call yourself a human being,

how you can say you follow God, and do something like this. They do not

match up. What was done here, families were aimed at, repeatedly.

Children. I saw one lady with a double boy, who had died, she was

just lying next to him, talking in his ear, very calmly. I saw other

people who were hysterical. These were families which were broken

apart in a split second. No mercy at all. He veered left and right to hit

as many people as he could. When I was coming back, I saw lots of

plastic shards, long pieces of plastic, and I could not work out

what they were. And then I realised that these were the sea front

benches that people had been hiding behind and he had moaned them down.

-- he had mowed them down. It was horrific. I spoke to other

eyewitnesses who said that people were running from the back streets

and then running another way, another attack could have been other

way. There were a lot of rumours, there was a rumour which spread

quickly about how there could have been a bomb in the old quarter, I do

not know anything about that, I only saw what was on the promenade. And

when you walked through the door and saw Amanda? It was the best feeling

in the world. She had also been worried about me so she didn't know

if I was one of the people on the promenade and I did not know if she

was once so it was wonderful. We are very grateful to be together. And I

think that helps a lot. The things that were done here were inhuman.

You are here on holiday? Yes. So you are passionate about France. We do

like France, who come every year. It is more heartbreaking when you think

about the country and what it is going through. It is. We have

friends here, we have been coming here many years, we know the local

shopkeeper and the concierge, they are all devastated. Everyone knows

someone involved, whether they are in the emergency services, or their

child was missing, one of the ladies in the apartment we are staying in

has a young child in the hospital. Everybody has been affected. As you

will see behind us, all of the beaches are closed as a mark of

respect for the people that died. People are just walking around in a

daze today. A lot of them were here last night. That's right. Certainly,

I think I was one of the very few people he was travelling up and down

in the immediate aftermath. But gradually people began to appear to

try and help do what they could the people. I was desperately trying to

find my wife, by the time I had found her, the promenade is being

closed off. The emergency services were starting to arrive. There were

some very brave people who tried to do what they could but I have to say

that most of the people who were injured were beyond help. I think a

very high proportion of those people hit were killed outright. If you do

not when methane, you both seem to be in shock, is there somewhere you

can go and people you can talk to, do you have family here? We have

been speaking to our family regularly through the day, we

obvious we have each other, so that has been a big kelp. Visit --

obviously have each other, so that has been a big help. Thank you for

talking to us, I know it has been upsetting, I hope you take great

care of yourself. Simon and his wife Amanda, extraordinary, some of the

eyewitness accounts. Let's talk about the attacks in France. There

have Against a perfect Riviera backdrop,

the grisly investigation has begun. French crime scene officers have

been piecing together the final Named as Tunisian born

Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel, he is believed to have lived in this

apartment building in Nice. Neighbours described his

behaviour as odd. If we arrived at the building

behind him, he would slam the door Investigators have seized anything

that could throw a light on why Bouhlel committed such

an abominable act. He was known by the police

for violence and petty theft He was convicted in March

and sentenced by the court But there was nothing to suggest any

sign of radicalisation. Only yesterday, during

the Bastille Day parade, it was expected that France's state

of emergency would be ended. Now it has been extended and 10,000

troops have been mobilised. France is clearly a top target

for so-called Islamic State or IS. It has the largest number of foreign

fighters in Syria and Iraq, and also, the leadership

of Islamic State now includes two Frenchman who have nothing else

as a desire but to hit France. Using lorries like this was a call

made by IS two years ago. It has established a network

of supporters in every The security service

here and the police anti-terror command are working closely

with the French They are looking to see

if there is any investigation that could link the attacker

in Nice with anybody here. The government is reviewing

its safety procedures to reduce the chances of a similar attack

succeeding here in Britain. Tonight, the instrument of so many

people's death and injury has Can France's next terror

attack be stopped? All of this is happening in the

context of a presidential election which is just around the corner, a

lot of soul-searching in France, French President Francois Hollande

has been here today, the country is already in the state security but he

is upping the anti-little bit, putting another 10,000 Army

reservists on the streets, in Nice and around France, tightening the

Borders and looking again at security and intelligence procedures

to see if there is anything they could have done.

Let's speak to Jacques Reland, a specialist in French

politics and security policy at the Global Policy Institute.

He joins us via webcam from Saint-Malo in Brittany.

Good of you to join us. Let's talk first about the politics, because it

is important. Some of the things we have heard from Francois Hollande

today will have been said with one eye on what is going to be happening

next year and the threat that he faces politically from Marine Le Pen

and the National Front. Yes, indeed, and this time, unlike the other two

the events, the Bataclan killings and the Charlie Hebdo killing, this

time there was no national political unity. From early on this morning, a

spokesman for the right started attacking the president. Saying,

basing the attacks on the report released last week saying there were

intelligence failures. What they have failed to see is that the

intelligence failures resulted in a great part on the rear noticed that

a reorganisation of the intelligence services under Nicolas Sarkozy. You

feel that there is a political damage and this time, the

President's reaction is mixed, and the leaders of the right have been

very critical of Francois Hollande. The fate previous mayor of Nice,

Nice, Christian Estrosi, who said that the president was refundable.

Even though the profile of the attacker makes him someone who could

not be suspected. It is someone who used to drink... I am afraid I have

to interrupt you, I am very sorry, but we're out of time and we hope to

to you some more. -- talk to you some more.