Truck driver in Bastille Day attack identified as petty criminal

NICE, France — The latest on the Bastille Day attack in Nice that killed 84 people (all times local to France):

3:45 p.m.

A neighbor of truck driver Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel in Nice says she often crossed paths with the man - and said he struck her as odd and unpleasant.

"I saw him four times a day," said Jasmine Corman, who has lived in the building for six months.

"He wasn't very nice. ... He was handsome, but his face was miserable," she said.

Corman, a hairdresser, said she had been to see the fireworks with her family on Thursday evening and was shocked by what happened, even more so when police stormed the building the next day.

She told reporters that Bouhlil had a "fixated look in his eyes."

"He was cold and never spoke to anybody," she said.

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3:40 p.m.

French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve says that the truck driver who killed 84 people when he careened into a crowd at a fireworks show was "radicalized very quickly."

The Islamic State group claimed Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel as a "soldier" on Saturday, but what is known so far about Bouhlel suggests a troubled, angry man with little interest in Islam.

Speaking to journalists at the Elysee Palace in Paris, Cazeneuve said Saturday that the case demonstrated the "extreme difficulty of the fight against terrorism."

The French government has been criticized for lax security at the show, which marked Bastille Day, France's national holiday. But Cazeneuve said that high security had been assured in the region - including at the Cannes Film Festival and the Nice Carnival.

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3:30 p.m.

French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve has helped clear up one of the questions hanging over the Nice attack: How did the truck driver who killed 84 people on the city's seaside boulevard manage to get the vehicle there in the first place?

Nice's Promenande des Anglais should have been closed to traffic on the night that Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel tore through the crowd, sending bodies flying and crushing others under his wheels.

Speaking to reporters Saturday, Cazeneuve said that the truck "forced its way through by mounting the sidewalk" to dodge police cars that were blocking the way to the promenade.

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3 p.m.

France's three days of mourning has just begun, but the horror over the truck attack on Nice's seaside boulevard hasn't done anything to tamp down France's turbulent politics.

In an open letter published on the Nice Matin newspaper's website, regional council President Christian Estrosi - a member of France's opposition Republicans - described his country's current leadership as "incapable," saying he'd requested that the police presence be reinforced in Nice ahead of the July 14 fireworks display that was attacked but was told there was no need.

France is heading into elections next year, and the deeply unpopular French President Francois Hollande is facing challenges from within his party and from right-wing Republicans and the far-right National Front.

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11:20 a.m.

French President Francois Hollande has canceled his trip to Prague planned for next week following the deadly attack in Nice.

The Czech presidential office says it was informed about the decision by the French embassy in Prague.

Hollande was expected to meet Czech leaders on Wednesday. The stop was part of a trip to five European countries meant to discuss the future of the European Union after Britain voted to leave the bloc.

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10:51 a.m.

An Islamic State-run media outlet says the man who barreled his truck into a crowd in the French coastal city of Nice is a "soldier" of the group.

The Aamaq news agency cited a "security source" as saying the attacker "carried out the operation in response to calls to target the citizens of coalition countries fighting the Islamic State."

The statement did not name the attacker, and the language implied that he may have acted independently. There is no evidence IS was involved in planning the July 14 attack.

The attack killed 84 people and wounded 200. The driver was identified as Mohamed Bouhlel, a Tunisian deliveryman known to authorities as a petty criminal.

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10:45 p.m.

French author Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clezio is decrying the attack in Nice, which is his hometown.

The Nobel literature laureate spoke on Friday during a visit to Lima, Peru, for the city's international book fair. He tells reporters that what happened "is something terrible; it's crazy. It's something that has nothing to do with humanity, something totally barbaric, totally unacceptable."

Le Clezio says the attack is something that must be condemned.

"You have to fight very hard, unite all human beings, not only French — all Peruvians, Colombians, Mexicans, Chinese. We must all condemn this violence," he said.

The 76-year-old writer says one of his three daughters is in Nice and he spent the night trying to reach her and finally did.

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9:45 p.m.

The seaside promenade in the French city of Nice where a man killed at least 84 people when he drove a truck through a crowd is still shut.

Street cleaners are still at work, and there are about a dozen bouquets of flowers placed by a police cordon.

One resident, Robert Canon, a lawyer in his 60s, said that he had witnessed the aftermath of the attack.

Canon said that "there were bodies all over the place. Too many. I couldn't bear to stay and watch. I saw children's pushchairs and toys too. It was horrible."

He said that normally the promenade and the beach would be full of tourists. On Friday evening it as almost empty.

Canon ventured that "maybe not tomorrow but in two or three days life will return. It has to."

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9:20 p.m.

French Prime Minister Manuel Valls says the man who drove a truck through crowds of revelers in Nice is a "terrorist linked to radical Islam."

But prosecutors say that Mohamed Laouaij Bouhlel, a Tunisian living in France, wasn't known to intelligence services.

Prosecutor Francois Molins said that Bouhlel was known to police and judicial authorities for matters of threats, violence, theft and damages committed between 2010 and 2016, and was convicted March 24 in Nice criminal court and handed a six-month suspended sentence for violence with a weapon committed in January.

Molins said that "he was on the other hand totally unknown to intelligence services ... and was never placed on a watch list for radicalization."

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9:05 p.m.

Tunisia's foreign ministry has condemned the Nice truck attack "with utmost firmness" and announced the creation of crisis group to deal with Tunisians living in the French city.

Tunisia's official TAP news agency quoted the Tunisian Embassy in Paris as saying that three Tunisian citizens had died in the attack.

Algeria's official APS news agency said one of the north African nation's citizens had also been killed.

Police say a Tunisian living in France drove a large truck Thursday night through crowds celebrating Bastille Day along the famed promenade in the southern French city. The slaughter ended only after police killed the armed attacker in a hail of bullets.

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8:25 p.m.

Al-Azhar, Sunni Islam's pre-eminent institution for religious learning, has denounced the truck attack in Nice that killed at least 84 people.

Chaired by Sheikh Ahmed al-Tayyab, Al-Azhar's statement on Friday described the attack as "hideous" and stressed that such "terrorist, coward actions are disapproved by the tolerant teachings of Islam."

The statement urged international coordination to combat terrorism, and "rescue the world from its evils."

Egypt's Grand Mufti Shawki Allam also condemned the Nice attack, saying the perpetrators of such attacks "have followed the footsteps of the devil, shed blood, and terrorized" innocent people.

Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi has extended his deepest sympathies to President Francois Hollande and the people of France for "the abhorrent terrorist attack in the French city of Nice."

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8:20 p.m.

A spokesman for a San Diego law school with a summer program in Nice says U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas left the city about 12 hours before Thursday's truck attack that killed at least 84 people.

Thomas Jefferson School of Law spokesman Edgar Hopida says Thomas was teaching a class as part of the school's summer program in Nice. Hopida says the 68-year-old justice left on a flight Thursday morning.

Hopida says the 50 or so students, faculty and staff in the Nice program are accounted for and safe.

Thomas agreed to participate in the program in place of Justice Antonin Scalia after Scalia's death in February.

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7:25 p.m.

President Barack Obama has ordered flags at U.S. government facilities, including embassies and consulates abroad, to be flown at half-staff for the next four days in memory of the victims of the truck attack in Nice, France.

In a presidential proclamation issued by the White House on Friday, Obama ordered the flags to be lowered until sunset on Tuesday.

Obama issued a statement condemning the attack, which killed at least 84 people and wounded more than 200 others, late Thursday and is expected to speak about it at a reception for foreign diplomats at the White House later on Friday.

Obama also has called French President Francois Hollande to offer him condolences on behalf of the American people.

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7:15 p.m.

Estonia's Foreign Ministry says that another Estonian national was injured in the Nice truck attack bringing the number to three. It didn't identify any of the victims or give more information.

The ministry said that the Estonian Embassy in Paris is in touch with local authorities to find out more details and try to contact all Estonians known to be in the area. It said that 100 Estonians who were in the region have been reported to be safe and well.

Police say a Tunisian living in France drove a large truck Thursday night through crowds celebrating Bastille Day along the famed promenade in the southern French city. The slaughter ended only after police killed the armed attacker in a hail of bullets.

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6:50 p.m.

Switzerland's foreign ministry says two citizens of the Alpine country — a woman and a child — were killed in the truck attack in Nice.

The ministry didn't identify the victims. It said that by late Friday afternoon it had received 48 queries from people concerned that relatives might have been affected, but had been able to contact all but five of those people.

Police say a Tunisian living in France drove a large truck Thursday night through crowds celebrating Bastille Day along the famed promenade in the southern French city. The slaughter ended only after police killed the armed attacker in a hail of bullets.

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6:45 p.m.

Lebanon's militant Hezbollah group has condemned the truck attack in France that killed at least 84 people in Nice during Bastille Day celebrations.

Hezbollah said in a statement Friday that a wave of terrorism hitting the world doesn't differentiate between "old or young, white or black and is not targeting a specific religion but humanity."

The group said that "what Western countries are witnessing is a reflection to "terrorism that we are living in our region that has burnt our people."

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6:40 p.m.

Different parts of France have planned vigils and rallies in mourning at the scores who lost their lives and defiance against the driver who took them.

Avignon mayor Cecile Helle is calling for a large rally Friday in front of the city hall, with other smaller gatherings and vigils planned the same day and over the weekend in towns such as Poitiers, Creusot and Pau.

President Francois Hollande declared three days of national mourning from Saturday in homage to the victims. Flags were lowered to half-staff in Paris and in Nice Friday as Hollande flew in to visit the injured in Nice's Pasteur Hospital alongside Health Minister Marisol Touraine.

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6:25 p.m.

With some people still searching for news of their loved ones after the Nice truck attack, a Facebook site called "SOS Nice" has begun to attract posts from people hoping to be reunited with missing family members.

The site was quickly filling up with photos, appeals and — in some cases — good news.

A 9-year-old and his family "have finally been found!" one recent post said atop a photo of a child sitting in front of a birthday cake.

"More and more people have been found and it's all thanks to you," another post said.

But it's not clear other appeals have been answered.

"No news from Claire who was at the fireworks," one post said. "She's 18 years old. If you find her or if you have information, please contact us. Thanks for sharing as much as possible."

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6:15 p.m.

Berlin's mayor and the French ambassador to Germany have led a minute of silence in tribute to the victims of the Nice attack in the German capital.

People on Friday laid flowers, toys and candles outside the French Embassy, which is next to Berlin's Brandenburg Gate.

Berlin Mayor Michael Mueller said: "We have come full of sadness and certainly, in many cases, full of anger. But I say as mayor of this open city that, even if it is difficult, even if we are angry, we cannot meet hatred with hatred."

Ambassador Philippe Etienne said: "We are showing our determination not to give in to this blackmail by terrorism, which counts on division and hatred."

A band played the French and German national anthems.

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6 p.m.

France's justice minister says that the man who drove a truck through crowds at Bastille Day celebrations in Nice, killing at least 84 people, had a record of petty crime but nothing matching the seriousness of Thursday night's rampage.

Jean-Jacques Urvoas told reporters in Paris that Mohamed Bouhlel "was at the center of several procedures but was sentenced for only one incident" earlier this year.

He said Bouhlel was placed on probation after throwing a wooden pallet at another driver during a confrontation.

The minister said Bouhlel was handed a suspended sentence since he had never been convicted. He was under the obligation of presenting himself at a Nice police station once a week and posting bail. He respected these obligations rigorously."

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5:55 p.m.

Brazilian authorities said that the attack in Nice will make them review Olympic security preparations and probably increase the number of checkpoints in Rio de Janeiro at the Aug. 5-21 games.

Speaking on Friday, Defense Minister Raul Jungmann told CBN radio that Rio Olympics security protocols will be revised because of the incident that killed at least 84 people in France.

Jungamann regretted that the possible increase of checkpoints will create more restrictions for movement all over the Olympic host city. He didn't detail which other measures could be made.

Brazil's government top military adviser, Sergio Etchegoyen, told journalists in the capital of Brasilia that the country's security authorities will meet later today to find possible gaps in preparations that could lead to an attack like the one in Nice.

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5:45 p.m.

A Scottish couple has been reported as missing after the attacks in Nice.

Family members said Friday they have been unable to locate 27-year-old Carole Annie Cowan and 30-year-old Ross Cowan after the attack. The couple was on holiday in Nice at the time.

Carole Annie Cowan's sister Amy Stanton said she has asked Britain's Foreign Office for help. She has also posted an urgent appeal for aid on Facebook.

British officials say a small number of Britons were injured, but haven't provided details. Foreign Official officials say they are working urgently with French authorities to get more information.

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5:10 p.m.

Authorities in Berlin say that two students and a teacher from a high school in the city were killed in the truck attack in Nice.

Reinhard Naumann, the mayor of Berlin's Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf district, said he was "deeply dismayed" by the death of the students and teacher from the Paula Fuerst School. The victims weren't identified.

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5:10 p.m.

The Eiffel Tower will be lit red-white-and-blue Friday evening in honor of the Nice attack victims, according to the monument's managers.

One of the world's most recognizable landmarks, the Eiffel Tower is routinely lit up in various colors in solidarity with victims of extremist violence across the world.

At least 84 people were killed in Thursday night's truck attack in Nice.

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5:10 p.m.

French prosecutor Francois Molins on the Nice attack says of the 84 people dead, 10 were children or adolescents. More than 200 injured, 52 critically, and 25 people in intensive care.

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5 p.m.

French President Francois Hollande and Provence Alpes d'Azur regional president Christian Estrosi were booed by an assembled crowd as their convoy drove through Nice following the French leader's televised address.

Christelle Hespel says that she's disgusted by both men — saying they'd failed to protect her city. The 38-year-old said: "Mr. Estrosi is from the right. Mr. Hollande from the left. I say it and I say it loud, these two are killers."

Hollande's government, whose popularity has hit record lows, has recently been buffeted by allegations that France's intelligence services have failed to get a handle on the country's jihadi threat.

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4:55 p.m.

Interpol is sending a response team to the French city of Nice to help identify victims and aid in the investigation into the truck attack that left at least 84 people dead.

According to the international police organization, the team will include anti-terrorism specialists.

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4:50 p.m.

An Egyptian tourist who filmed police shooting the truck driver who mowed people down in Nice says he saw the attacker firing back through a window.

Nader El Shafei says the truck ground to halt right in front of him after "smashing a girl" and leaving a trail of bodies on the Promenade des Anglais.

He told The Associated Press in an interview: "I kept waving to him, 'Stop, stop! There are people under your truck.'"

He said the driver pulled out a gun when police closed in on the halted truck.

El Shafei said "the police started shooting. I saw the gun in his hand and I saw him shooting through the window."

Video he filmed showed that several dozen shots were fired.

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4:50 p.m.

The man suspected behind the Nice attack has been identified as Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel, French officials say.

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4:40 p.m.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry have interrupted their talks in Moscow in order to come to the French Embassy, lay flowers and leave messages in a book of condolences after the truck attack in Nice.

The two foreign policy chiefs arrived to the embassy late Friday afternoon with two bouquets: Lavrov carried red roses, Kerry white roses. They both left notes in the book of condolences before heading back to a Foreign Ministry mansion for a news conference that was scheduled to start three hours earlier.

Moscow residents have been leaving flowers and candles at the French Embassy since late Thursday when at least 84 people were killed in the Nice attack.

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4:15 p.m.

France's deadly truck attack underlined how attackers are turning to an ever-expanding arsenal of weapons in attacks that are becoming harder to predict or prevent.

Europe is no stranger to attacks involving vehicles, but Thursday's attack that killed 84 people represented one of the highest death tolls in recent history. Unlike attacks that have involved explosive-laden vehicles, the sheer weight and speed of the truck on the busy promenade appeared to have caused the high number of deaths.

Matthew Henman, managing editor at IHS Jane's Terrorism and Insurgency Centre, commented: "Using vehicles in attacks is a fairly well-established tactic with al-Qaida and the Islamic State group."

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4:00 p.m.

German tourist Richard Gutjahr says he could hear angry shouts outside and see a big white truck rolling slowly down a road supposed to be blocked off as a party zone. He picked up his camera — and captured a key moment in the terrible path of the Nice attack.

Gutjahr's footage, filmed from a first-floor hotel balcony, shows the truck chased by police officers. An unidentified motorcyclist pulls alongside the truck, leaps off his vehicle and clings to the door of the truck in a bid to stop the attacker. The motorcycle is partly crushed under the truck's tires as the motorcyclist, possibly a police officer, clings on and Gutjahr sees two other officers on foot take aim and fire individual shots at the truck's windscreen.

Gutjahr said in a telephone interview: "I thought it could either be a drunk driver or a terror attack, until that incredibly brave man jumped on the truck."

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3:40 p.m.

Several neighbors at the address listed for the man identified as the truck driver who killed dozens of people in Nice say said police officers raided the 12th floor apartment earlier Friday — but that the man had not lived there in three years. The apartment was occupied by the man's estranged wife, who was led away by authorities, three of the neighbors said. The apartment showed visible signs of having been forced in,including a hole where the lock had been.

Four young men inside the apartment told The Associated Press they were family of the wife, who they said was divorcing her husband.

The family members and the neighbors refused to identify themselves.3:25 p.m.

French President Francois Hollande says the truck attack was done "to satisfy the cruelty of an individual, and maybe a group."

Speaking after visiting the hospital where victims were treated, he also said that France was "facing a struggle which will be long."

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3:10 p.m.

Vigils and rallies are being planned around France in mourning for the scores who lost their lives and defiance in the attack in Nice.

Avignon's mayor Cecile Helle is calling for a large rally Friday in front of the city hall, with other smaller gatherings and vigils planned the same day and over the weekend in towns including Poitiers, Creusot and Pau.

President Francois Hollande declared three days of national mourning from Saturday.

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3:00 p.m.

Relatives say a father and son from Texas are among the victims of the deadly truck attack in Nice.

Family friend Jess Davis says 51-year-old Sean Copeland and his 11-year-old son Brodie were killed Thursday evening in what French authorities have described as a terror attack.

Davis released a statement Friday on behalf of the Copeland family, saying they are "heartbroken and in shock."

State Department spokesman John Kirby said earlier that two Americans were killed, but didn't identify them citing privacy.

Davis says the Copelands, from Lakeway, were on a European vacation that began in Spain.

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2:40 p.m.

Morocco's consulate in Marseille has told The Associated Press that at least 2 Moroccans were among the victims of the attack in Nice.

The consulate said that a woman and her son died in the massacre that killed at least 84 — many of whom had been watching the fireworks on France's Bastille Day.

The consulate did not release names of the victims.

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2:35 p.m.

Italian Premier Matteo Renzi says the pain of the attack in Nice was made worse because so many children were killed and maimed on France's national holiday.

In a Facebook post, Enzi wrote: "We're used to seeing postcards from Nice full of beauty, not images of death with a doll near a destroyed stroller. Reacting is a moral duty."

Italy has told its local prefects and police chiefs to reassess security measures and reinforce "sensitive targets."

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2:30 p.m.

An Associated Press reporter says the alert at Nice airport has been lifted, with passengers who had been evacuated being allowed back into the terminal to pick up their bags.

The airport's website showed flights leaving and landing as usual. In a message posted to the site's home page, the airport said: "Despite the dreadful events that occurred, access to the airport and Air traffic won't be disrupted."

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2:15 p.m.

Poland's interior minister is blaming the attack in Nice on the values of multiculturalism and political correctness promoted by European Union leaders like foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini.

Mariusz Blaszczak, interior minister in a right-wing government, said: "We must reject political correctness and call things by their true names. Rather than shedding tears like Mogherini and ... organizing marches that solve nothing, authorities should ensure the safety of citizens."

In an interview on Polsat News, he said the attack in Nice is the consequence of many years of "multi-culti policies and political correctness. This is how it ends."

He added: "We don't have such problems. We don't have districts where law other than Polish law reigns. We don't have no-go zones for police." He also praised his party, Law and Justice, for standing firm against accepting migrants.

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2:10 p.m.

Two French officials say the man who carried out the truck attack in Nice was a Tunisian living in the city. The officials, who could not speak publicly about the investigation, confirmed that the ID found in the truck matched the dead attacker.

They said the man was living legally in France. Tunisia is a former French colony.

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2:00 p.m.

Passengers have been ordered out of Nice Airport, an Associated Press reporter at the scene says. She said the terminal building has been sealed off and that military personnel are visible inside.

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1:40 p.m.

Spain says it is maintaining its national security alert at one step below maximum following the Nice attack but has stepped up police controls in transport centers such as airports, tourism sites and places where large numbers of people gather.

Interior Minister Jorge Fernandez Diaz said Spain and France had agreed to continue enforcing tighter police controls at border crossings that were introduced for the recent European football championship and the Tour de France.

Speaking after meeting with Spanish police officials and political party representatives, he said maximum alert level five would be applied only if security officials unanimously felt a terror attack was imminent._

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1:20 p.m.

Italy has told all local prefects and police chiefs to reassess security measures and reinforce all "sensitive targets" following the Nice attack.

Interior Minister Angelino Alfano said Friday that at a national level, Italy's security alert remained at the second-highest level, just under that of being under actual attack.

Alfano recalled that the Islamic State group as far back as 2014 had urged sympathizers to employ "car jihad" to attack the West. He said that Italy had taken note, for example, and closed to traffic the main boulevard leading to the Vatican during Pope Francis' Holy Year, precisely to limit risks to big gatherings of pedestrians.

At a press conference after convening his anti-terror agency chiefs, Alfano said the monitoring of Italy's prisons in the hours after the Nice carnage showed no evidence of sympathy or support among Muslim inmates, unlike previous attacks.

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1:10 p.m.

The foreign ministries of Armenia and Ukraine say two Armenians and one Ukrainian were killed in Thursday's attack in Nice.

The foreign ministry of Armenia says two of its citizens were killed. They would not immediately give the details.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin says one Ukrainian was killed but the ministry would not identify the victim citing the family's right to privacy.Two Ukrainians were injured.

Switzerland's foreign ministry says a Swiss woman was killed, but declined to provide further details for privacy reasons.

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12:55 p.m.

French President Francois Hollande and Prime Minister Manuel Valls have both arrived in Nice by plane.

The pair posed with Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve on the airport tarmac in a show of solidarity.

The three politicians met with security officials before driving off.

Cazeneuve, who's said that "we are at war with terrorists," was the first to travel to the scene of the massacre that left at least 84 dead.

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12:45 p.m.

British Prime Minister Theresa May has condemned the Nice attack and called for a "redoubling" of efforts to defeat violent extremists.

The new prime minister called the attack "horrifying" and said: "We must redouble our efforts to defeat these brutal murderers who want to destroy our way of life."

British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said it is believed that a Briton was injured in the attack. Foreign Office officials say they have not yet confirmed that report.

12:40 p.m.

U.S. State Department spokesman John Kirby says two Americans were among those killed in Nice on Thursday when a large truck plowed through a crowd gathered for fireworks.

Kirby didn't identify the individuals by name, citing privacy concerns.

He says the U.S. is providing assistance to those affected by the attack, while the embassy tries to account for all Americans in the Mediterranean city.

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12:20 p.m.

Two French police officials say identity papers found alongside the attacker behind a killing spree in southeastern Nice belonged to a 31-year-old Frenchman of Tunisian descent with previous misdemeanor convictions but no known link to extremist groups.

The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly on the matter, said Friday that the papers were those of Nice resident. They cautioned that DNA and identity checks with acquaintances were pending to fully verify the identity.

The suspect died in a shootout with police after mowing down dozens of people with a truck on Nice's seaside Promenade des Anglais during national Bastille Day revelry Thursday.

The Paris prosecutor's office, which is leading the investigation, declined to comment.

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11:55 a.m.

Czech police say they are increasing security as a precaution following the truck attack in Nice.

Tomas Tuhy, the country's top police officer says security has been boosted at Prague's and other international airports, train stations and other places where sports and cultural events take place.

The Foreign Ministry says no Czechs are among the dead, but one Czech woman suffered a light injury in the attack.

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11:40 a.m.

Estonia's Foreign Ministry says two Estonian nationals were injured in the Nice attack and it is trying to reach other Estonians believed to be in the area. It did not identify the injured or give further details.

Meanwhile, Estonian state-owned airline Nordica says it's offering passengers with tickets to Nice for July to change their flight plans.

Nordica CEO Jaan Tamm says customers who have flown to Nice will be allowed to return on earlier return flights if seats are available. Passengers booked to fly to Nice this month will be allowed to change the time of their departure or change the destination to the Croatian cities of Split or Rijeka, or Odessa in Ukraine until the end of the summer season free of charge.

Two Estonian mobile operators said they would allow clients to make free mobile calls from France and receive calls there free of charge for the next two days.

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11:35 a.m.

London Mayor Sadiq Khan says London will review its security procedures because of the attack in Nice.

The mayor said he wants to reassure all London residents that the Metropolitan Police will do "everything possible" to keep the British capital safe. He said the extremists' "poisonous and twisted ideology" will be defeated in France, London and other parts of the world.

The terror threat in Britain is judged to be "severe," meaning that an attack is highly likely.

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11:15 a.m.

Belgium's prime minister says next week's national holiday celebrations will go ahead, but with additional security measures.

Charles Michel spoke to journalists following a morning meeting of the Belgian's government's Security Council following the lethal truck attack in Nice, France.

Michel says Belgian authorities had already considered the possibility of a terrorist using a vehicle to attack a crowd. He says additional "appropriate measures," which he did not specify, will now be taken to safeguard events scheduled to mark National Day on July 21.

OCAM, an independent body that assesses the risk of an extremist attack in Belgium, is maintaining the threat level at 3 on a 4-point scale, Michel said. For the level to be raised to the maximum, he says, there must be "concrete and precise" information about an imminent attack, which he said there was none at present.

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11:05 a.m.

German police say they're stepping up border checks on the French frontier following the attack in Nice.

Federal police said Thursday that they had increased checks at land borders and railway crossings with France, and at airports.

They would not give further details, but said the move was made in consultation with France.

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10:55 a.m.

The children's hospital in Nice says it has treated some 50 children and adolescents injured in the truck attack, including two who died during or after surgery.

Stephanie Simpson, the communications director for the Lenval foundation hospital, tells The Associated Press that injuries included fractures and head injuries and that the victims were aged 18 or under.

In a phone interview, she said: "Some are still life and death."

She said she could not say exact number of children hospitalized or the ages of those who died.

The hospital is also offering psychological counselling to parents and siblings.

The hospital, equipped with one of France's largest pediadiatric emergency units, also called the families of children it was already treating before the attack to ask them to pick up their children to free up rooms for the attack victims.

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10:40 a.m.

French Prime Minister Manuel Valls said the government is declaring three days of national mourning after the attack in Nice that left at least 84 people dead. Speaking after an emergency meeting, Valls said the national mourning would begin Saturday.

He confirmed that a measure extending the country's state of emergency would go before lawmakers next week.

Valls and French President Francois Hollande were going to Nice later Friday.

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10:10 a.m.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault has cut short a visit to Mongolia to return to Paris because of the Nice attack.

A foreign ministry spokesman says Ayrault was in Mongolia for the Asia-Europe summit and is expected back late Friday.

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9:55 a.m.

Germany's top security official says the attack in Nice is "incomprehensible and simply awful," and that "this barbaric murder must be finally brought to an end."

Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere said Friday he was shocked by the news of the attack and that his thoughts were with the victims and their family.

De Maiziere says "our friendship with the French people will become even deeper in mourning, anger and determination."

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9:50 a.m.

Belgium's prime minister said he's convening a meeting of the National Security Council Friday in the wake of the Nice attack, to make sure adequate security measures are in place for Belgium's national holiday next week.

"We have already taken a certain number of steps in connection with preparations for July 21, as you can imagine, and our security services are permanently evaluating the measures that are necessary," Charles Michel, the Belgian prime minister, said in a radio interview. "It's certain that our security services are going to include information resulting from this act committed last night in Nice in their analyses."

On March 22, suicide bombers killed 32 victims in the Brussels Airport and subway. The Belgian capital was also home to many of the attackers who killed 130 people in Paris on Nov. 13.

Both of those attacks were claimed by the Islamic State group.

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9:40 a.m.

A lawmaker for the region that includes Nice said some people tried to escape the attack by going into the sea, giving new details of the horrifying last minutes of the attack in Nice.

"A person jumped onto the truck to try to stop it," Eric Ciotti told Europe 1 radio. "It's at that moment that the police were able to neutralize this terrorist. I won't forget the look of this policewoman who intercepted the killer."

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9:30 a.m.

Christian Estrosi, the regional president in Nice, said some of the city's 1,200 security cameras had pinpointed the moment the attacker boarded the truck, far from the seaside "in the hills of Nice" and could follow his path to the promenade. Estrosi called for the investigation to focus on any accomplices.

"Attacks aren't prepared alone. Attacks are prepared with accomplices," Estrosi said. "There is a chain of complicity. I expect it to be unveiled, discovered and kept up to date."

Estrosi said more than 10 children were among the dead and he said France needed to think carefully about its next response to attacks, as previous responses were not enough to protect the people.

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9:20 a.m.

Russian news agencies on Friday quoted Irina Tyurina, spokeswoman for the Russian Union of Travel Industry, saying that a Russian woman was killed and her friend hurt in the Nice attack. Tyurina said she got the information from insurance agencies.

"Two friends from Russia were taking a walk on the Promenade des Anglais. One was killed by the truck, the other lightly injured, she's got broken toes and some other minor injuries," Tyurina said.

Thousands of Russian tourists are estimated to be holidaymaking in Nice.

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8:50 a.m.

Tour de France riders including race leader Chris Froome sent messages of support to the victims of the deadly attack in Nice, although organizers did not immediately say whether cycling's showpiece event will continue as planned.

Froome posted a picture of the blue, white and red French flag on Twitter and wrote: "Thoughts are with those affected by the horrific terror attack in Nice."

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8:30 a.m.

The city of Marseille has canceled its fireworks show on Friday. The seaside city, not far from Nice and one of France's largest, announced the cancellation after an attack on Nice's waterfront promenade left at least 84 people dead.

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8 a.m.

The French Interior Ministry has raised the death toll to 84 from the attack on people celebrating Bastille Day in the Riviera city of Nice. The additional four deaths were apparently from the 18 people who were seriously injured when a truck slammed into the crowds. Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said extra medical-legal police were being sent to Nice to speed the identification process so bodies can be returned to families.

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7:50 a.m.

France, hit with two waves of attacks last year that killed 147 people, has long known it is a top target for the Islamic State group. In September 2014, then-spokesman Abu Mohammed al-Adnani referred to "the filthy French" in a statement telling Muslims within the country to attack them in any way they could, including "crush them with your car."

The message was not limited to France. It addressed "disbelieving Americans or Europeans — especially the spiteful and filthy French — or an Australian or a Canadian."

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4:30 a.m.

French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve says 80 people have died in the truck attack on the seaside avenue of Nice, and 18 people are in critical condition.

Numerous others have been wounded, he said after traveling to the scene.

"The identification of the criminal is in progress," he said, refusing to confirm reports that an ID card was found after police shot the truck driver dead.

"We are in a war with terrorists who want to strike us at any price and in a very violent way," the minister said.

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4:15 a.m.

President Francois Hollande says he will call a defense council meeting Friday that brings together defense, interior and other key ministers, before heading to Nice.

Besides ensuring continuation of the state of emergency and the Sentinel operation that puts 10,000 soldiers on patrol, he said he was calling up reserve to help police, particularly at French borders.

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4 a.m.

French President Francois Hollande says "the terrorist character" of the Bastille Day truck attack in Nice cannot be denied.

Hollande confirmed that 77 people, including some children, were killed when the truck drove through the crowds who had just watched a fireworks display on seafront in the city. He said 20 wounded people are in critical condition.

Just hours after announcing in the traditional Bastille Day interview that the state of emergency, in place since November attacks that killed 130 in Paris, was to be removed, Hollande said it must be extended for three months. That decision will need parliamentary approval.

He also said other measures will be put in place to counter the threat.

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3 a.m.

The president of the region that includes Nice has announced that the city's jazz festival, due to open on Saturday, and a Rihanna concert planned for Friday evening, have both been canceled after the deadly truck attack.

Christian Estrosi said flags would be lowered across the city on Friday. He gave the latest death toll as 77 after a truck plowed into people celebrating Bastille Day at a fireworks display on the city's famous Promenade des Anglais.

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2:45 a.m.

European Council president Donald Tusk says it is a "tragic paradox" that the victims of the attack in Nice were celebrating "liberty, equality and fraternity" — France's motto — on the country's national day.

Tusk tweeted a photograph of himself and other European and Asian leaders standing in tribute to the Nice victims at the Asia-Europe meeting in Mongolia.

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2:15 a.m.

U.S. President Barack Obama has condemned what he says "appears to be a horrific terrorist attack" in Nice.

Obama says, "Our thoughts and prayers are with the families and other loved-ones of those killed."

Noting that the attack occurred on Bastille Day, Obama praised "the extraordinary resilience and democratic values that have made France an inspiration to the entire world."

Obama is offering French officials "any assistance that they may need to investigate this attack and bring those responsible to justice."

France's ambassador to the United States, Gerard Araud, characterized the events in Nice as a "terrorist attack."

"Our democracies — France, the United States, our other partners , we are besieged, we face a terrible threat," Araud said at a Bastille Day reception at the French Embassy in Washington late Thursday.

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2:05 a.m.

The ranking politician of the Alpes-Maritime department that includes Nice says the truck plowed into the crowd over a distance of two kilometers (more than a mile), killing 75 people and wounding 50.

Eric Ciotti said on BFM TV that police killed the driver "apparently after an exchange of gunfire."

The Paris prosecutor's office opened an investigation for "murder, attempted murder in an organized group linked to a terrorist enterprise." The probe is being handled by France's intelligence agency and judicial police.

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1:45 a.m.

Writing online, Nice Matin journalist Damien Allemand who was at the waterside said the fireworks display had finished and the crowd had got up to leave when they heard a noise and cries.

"A fraction of a second later, an enormous white truck came along at a crazy speed, turning the wheel to mow down the maximum number of people," he said.

"I saw bodies flying like bowling pins along its route. Heard noises, cries that I will never forget."

Allemand said people took shelter in a nearby restaurant, where he continued to hear people shouting for missing family members. He ventured out and saw bodies, blood and body parts all along the road.

"This evening, it was horror," Allemand concluded.

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1:20 a.m.

The president of the region that includes Nice says a truck that slammed into revelers celebrating Bastille Day on the city's waterfront was loaded with arms and grenades, and that the driver of the truck has now been killed by police.

Christian Estrosi told BFM TV that "the driver fired on the crowd, according to the police who killed him."

Estrosi said the truck was drivien by someone who appeared to have "completely premeditated behavior." He added that "the truck was loaded with arms, loaded with grenades."

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1 a.m.

The head of the French department in which Nice is located says at least 60 people have died in what officials say was a deliberate attack when a truck drove into Bastille Day revelers in the resort city.

Eric Ciotti said on France Info radio that "It's a scene of horror." He said he was speaking from the scene.

The Nice prosecutor Jean-Michel Prette said bodies are strewn about along the roadway.

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12:45 a.m.

A spokesman for France's Interior Ministry says there are likely to be "several dozen dead" after a truck drove into a crowd of revelers celebrating Bastille Day in the French city of Nice.

Pierre-Henry Brandet told BFM TV: "it's going to be a very high toll."

The president of the Nice regional council also gave a similar number.

Cox Media Group