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Death toll in Nice attack rises to 84 – interior ministry

Storyline:National News

At least 84 people were killed and 18 people were in a critical condition after a gunman drove a heavy truck at high speed into a crowd in the southern French sea resort of Nice, a spokesman for the French interior ministry said.

The truck driver was a 31 year-old Franco-Tunisian born in Tunisia, a police source close to the investigation earlier said.

The driver of the truck was killed by police.

The truck, which weighted 3.5 tons, carried explosives and weapons.

Many children were among the death toll in the Riviera city following a “cowardly and barbaric” atrocity.

As hundreds remained in hospital, including 18 in intensive care, anti-terrorist judges opened an investigation into ‘mass murder’.

President Francois Hollande said the attack was of “an undeniable terrorist nature”.

A state of emergency, in place since November’s Paris attacks, has been extended by three months.

Goobjoog News + Agencies