(Newswire.net — July 15, 2016) — Nice, France – State of emergency in France was about to be lifted when another unprecedented terrorist attack in Nice left 84 people dead and many wounded.
Authorities fear the death toll could rise due to 18 more people in critical state in hospital. Witnesses describe scenes of horror, bodies, limbs and blood on the famous Nice seafront, Promenade des Anglais.
A truck drove into a mass of people celebrating the national day, watching the Bastille Day fireworks. After zig-zaging through a crowd in order to hit as many people possible, a truck driver stopped and start shooting randomly at the people running for their lives, before police shot and killed him.
“It’s a scene of horror,” Member of Parliament Eric Ciotti told France Info radio, saying the truck “mowed down several hundred people.” Jacques, who runs Le Queenie restaurant on the seafront, told the station: “People went down like ninepins.”
“I saw people go down, then the truck stopped, we were just five meters away,” bystander Franck Sidoli told Reuters. “A woman was there, she lost her son. Her son was on the ground, bleeding,” he said.
Although it has not yet officially been confirmed, authorities in France considers this a terror attack. No organization has claimed responsibility yet.
“Everything is going to change now,” Steve Moore, Retired FBI special agent, told CNN, referring to the way in which this attack differs from the usual suicide bomber pattern. Moore was a guest at the CNN studio along with Aaron Cohen, former member of Israeli Special Forces, who agreed that the attack has opened a new chapter in terror attacks. The two agreed that we may see more of these types of attacks in the future.
ISIS (also known as Islamic State) spokesman Abu Muhammad al-Adnani ash-Shami called on supporters to launch insider attacks on western populations, particularly “the spiteful and filthy French”.
“If you can kill a disbelieving American or European – especially the spiteful and filthy French – or an Australian, or a Canadian, or any other disbeliever […] then rely upon Allah, and kill him in any manner or way however it may be,” he said.
In his 42 minute address on social media, the ISIS spokesperson called followers to attack disbelievers by “running them down with a car, hitting them with a rock, or strangle them with bare hands.”
In a short address on national television, the French president Francois Hollande said “France is afflicted but she is strong.” France would, nonetheless, continue military operations in Syria and Iraq, he continued.