A truck loaded with weapons and hand grenades drove onto a sidewalk for more than a mile, plowing through Bastille Day revelers who'd gathered to watch fireworks in the French resort city of Nice late Thursday

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A truck loaded with weapons and hand grenades drove onto a sidewalk for more than a mile, plowing through Bastille Day revelers who'd gathered to watch fireworks in the French resort city of Nice late Thursday. At least 80 people were killed before police killed the driver.

The state of emergency has been in place since November's jihadist attacks in Paris, and was due to be lifted on 26 July.

French President Francois Hollande said Friday that France's state of emergency would be extended for another three months after the truck attack in Nice.

Police sources say that the France truck attacker has been formally identified.

After finding id cards in the truck the police had said that they had formally identified the man. He killed 84 people on Thursday night during Bastille day celebrations. He had been shot down by the police at the end of the attack.

Citing local sources, the driver of the truck has been identified by local newspaper Nice-Matin as 31-year-old Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel, who is from Nice.

According to the Independent , the man who killed more than 80 people with a truck in Nice has been locally identified.

What we know so far

French Ambassador Francois Delattre told reporters ahead of the meeting that there had been many expressions of support to France in the aftermath of the attack.

The 15-member council unanimously condemned the killings in a statement late Thursday, calling it a "barbaric and cowardly terrorist attack" and reaffirming that terrorism is one of the leading threats to world security.

The council chamber fell silent as ambassadors rose to their feet and bowed their heads at the start of a meeting called to discuss the situation in Iraq.

UN Security Council envoys observed a moment of silence on Friday for the victims of the Bastille Day attack in Nice that left at least 84 dead, including many children.

"We will provide psychological and social help for the victims. I would like to thank state services, doctors and firemen for their help," says Paris prosecutor Francois Molins, in a statement to the media.

Paris prosecutor Francois Molins, who is currently addressing the media says "driver rented the truck and hit people. A bank card, mobile phone and a grenade were all found in the truck."

The Nice attacker's wife has been arrested for questioning, says Paris prosecutor Francois Molins, in a statement to the media. He added that 202 people were wounded in the Nice truck attack, 25 are on life support and 52 in critical condition. Among the dead were 10 children and teens.

French prosecutor Francois Molins also echoed the same view, that Bouhlel was known to police and the courts, but unknown to intelligence officials.

Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel, the man behind the Nice truck attack, was known to the police, reports Al Jazeera.

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

Family members said that 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.

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

Molins, who is leading the investigation into the massacre in Nice, said what had happened was "exactly in line with the constant calls to kill" which jihadi terror groups make in videos and elsewhere.

The truck attack, which killed 84 people at a Bastille Day fireworks display in Nice, is exactly in line with jihadist calls to action, French anti-terror prosecutor Francois Molins said on Friday.

I have spoken to our Ambassador in France Shri Mohan Kumar. He has again confirmed that all Indians are safe. @Indian_Embassy

Earlier, External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Vikas Swarup said "Our Ambassador in Paris is in touch with the Indian community in Nice. So far no report of any Indians affected."

"I have spoken to our Ambassador in France Shri Mohan Kumar. He has again confirmed that all Indians are safe," External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj tweeted.

No Indian is reported to have been affected in the Nice attack, confirmed the External Affairs Ministry.

What we know so far

84 killed, 14 in critical condition in the attacks that took place on late Thursday night on Bastille Day in Nice, France. Over 150 people have been injured.

Nice: A truck loaded with weapons and hand grenades drove onto a sidewalk for more than a mile, plowing through Bastille Day revelers who'd gathered to watch fireworks in the French resort city of Nice late Thursday. At least 77 people were killed before police killed the driver, authorities said.

Nice prosecutor Jean-Michel Pretre described a horrific scene, with bodies strewn about along the roadway and Sylvie Toffin, a press officer with the local prefecture, said the truck ran over people on a "long trip" down the sidewalk near Nice's Palais de la Mediterranee, a building that fronts the beach.

Wassim Bouhlel, a Nice native who spoke to AP nearby, said that he saw a truck drive into the crowd. "There was carnage on the road," he said. "Bodies everywhere."

The Paris prosecutor's office opened an investigation for "murder, attempted murder in an organized group linked to a terrorist enterprise."

The ranking politician of the Alpes-Maritime department that includes Nice said the truck plowed into the crowd over a distance of 2 kilometers (1.2 miles), killing 77 people and wounding 50. Many of those on the ground were in shorts and other summer clothing.

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

The president of the Provence Alpes Côte d'Azur regional council, which includes Nice, said the truck was loaded with arms and grenades. Christian Estrosi told BFM TV that "the driver fired on the crowd, according to the police who killed him."

Bouhlel said he witnessed the man emerge with a gun and start shooting.

Images being broadcast across French media showed revelers running for their lives down Nice's palm tree-lined Promenade des Anglais, the famous seaside boulevard named for the English aristocrats who proposed its construction in the 19th Century.

Video footage showed men and women — one or two pushing strollers — racing to get away from the scenes. And, in what appeared to be evidence of a gun battle, photos showed a truck with at least half a dozen bullet holes punched through its windshield.

It was not immediately clear who would have been behind an 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.

President Barack Obama condemned what he said "appears to be a horrific terrorist attack."

"Our thoughts and prayers are with the families and other loved ones of those killed," he said.

European Council president Donald Tusk said it was 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.

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

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."

Graphic footage showed a scene of horror up and down the Promenade, with broken bodies splayed out on the asphalt, some of them piled near one another, others bleeding out onto the roadway or twisted into unnatural shapes.

"Help my mother, please!" one person yells out amid a cacophony of screaming and crying. A pink girl's bicycle is briefly seen overturned by the side of the road.

The origin and authenticity of the footage could not immediately be verified.

Kayla Repan, of Boca Raton, Florida, was among the hundreds gathered on the promenade to watch fireworks.

"The whole city was running. I got extremely frightened and ran away from the promenade," she said. "It was chaos."

With inputs from AP