Eyewitness: ‘Bodies Everywhere’ After Truck Hits Bastille Day Crowd In Nice, France

In this video grab taken Thursday July 14, 2016, ambulances and Police cars are seen after a truck drove on to the sidewalk and plowed through a crowd of revelers who’d gathered to watch the fireworks in the French... In this video grab taken Thursday July 14, 2016, ambulances and Police cars are seen after a truck drove on to the sidewalk and plowed through a crowd of revelers who’d gathered to watch the fireworks in the French resort city of Nice. officials and eyewitnesses described as a deliberate attack. There appeared to be many casualties. (BFMTV via AP) MORE LESS
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UPDATE: 7:03 p.m. ET

NICE, France (AP) — Interior Ministry spokesman Pierre-Henry Brandet tells BFM TV there will be several dozen dead in Nice truck attack. The president of the Nice region says at least 60 dead in truck attack on Bastille Day revelers.

A truck drove on to the sidewalk and plowed through a crowd of revelers who’d gathered to watch the fireworks in the French resort city of Nice in what officials and eyewitnesses described as a deliberate attack. There appeared to be many casualties.

Sylvie Toffin, a press officer with the local prefecture, said the truck “hit several people on a long trip” down the sidewalk near Nice’s Palais de la Méditerranee, a building which fronts the beach.

Wassim Bouhlel, a Nice native who spoke to the AP nearby, said that he saw a truck drive into the crowd.

“There was carnage on the road,” Bouhlel said. “Bodies everywhere.”

Bouhlel said he witnessed the man emerge with a gun and start shooting, but Toffin said she that, “to my knowledge” there was no gunfire.

She confirmed the incident was deliberate.

“It’s an attack,” she said. She said she did not have casualty figures.

It was not immediately clear who would have been behind the attack, but France has recently seen a spate of dramatic assaults from by jihadist groups, including the Islamic State group which straddles Iraq and Syria.

___

Eds: Satter reported from Paris.

Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

This post has been updated.

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