TERRORISM// At least 84 people were killed and 100 injured in the French city of Nice when a man deliberately drove a lorry into a crowd celebrating Bastille Day in France, the country’s main national holiday. The attacker behind the wheel drove at high speed along the famed Promenade des Anglais seafront, careering into spectators who had been watching a Bastille Day firework display. Police shot and killed the driver, officials said. France’s Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said that children were among the dead and 18 people were in a critical condition.

Expressing concern, French President Francois Hollande said that he would extend a state of emergency - which had been in place since the attacks in Paris last November - for another three months from July 26. “There’s no denying the terrorist nature of this attack of yet again the most extreme form of violence,” he added.

“Nothing will make us yield in our will to fight terrorism. We will further strengthen our actions in Iraq and in Syria. We will continue striking those who attack us on our own soil,” he said, in reference to France's involvement in a coalition of nations carrying out air strikes against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) group. The attack happened just as the firework display - which was attended by thousands of people - was ending, at around 11:00pm local time. Eric Ciotti, a local MP, said the lorry continuously rammed the crowd over a distance of two kilometres. Ciotti said on BFM TV that police killed the driver "apparently after an exchange of gunfire", adding that the truck was loaded with weapons and grenades.