At least 84 people
have been killed and many others injured after a truck slammed into a
crowd of people celebrating Bastille Day in the southern French city
of Nice.

Here is everything
we now know about what French President François Hollande called an
“undeniable” terrorist attack.

French police say a
truck drove a distance of two kilometers, slamming at high speed into
a crowd of people celebrating Bastille Day on Promenade des Anglais
in Nice, killing at least 84 people and injuring 100. Several
children were among the dead and injured, according to France’s
interior ministry, and 18 people are in a critical condition.

Agence France-Presse
reported the attacker got out of the 19-ton truck and fired a pistol
several times before being shot dead by police.

The attack occurred
at around 11 p.m. Thursday, after a fireworks display marking
France’s National Day in the Mediterranean resort city had
finished.

People were seen
fleeing in panic, some screaming and others crying as ambulances
rushed to the scene of the latest assault on France, still reeling
from ISIL attacks on Paris in November, in which 130 people were
killed.

Anti-terror
investigators take over

Anti-terror officers
have taken charge of the investigation in Nice and local authorities
urged people to stay inside.

France’s Interior
Minister Bernard Cazeneuve has traveled to the scene of the attack
and said one person was driving the truck and he was armed. Guns and
grenades were found in the vehicle.

Cazeneuve declined
to confirm media reports that identification papers of a 31-year-old
French-Tunisian were found in the truck used in the attack.

A jazz festival
scheduled to begin on Saturday was canceled, as was a Rihanna concert
due to take place Friday evening.

State of emergency
extended

President Hollande
said in a televised address that he will extend France’s state of
emergency, due to expire July 26, for three months in response to the
attack.

He said 10,000
additional soldiers have been sent out on patrols to help police and
reserves will also be mobilized and sent to the country’s borders.

“France is badly
hit by this tragedy. We are horrified by what happened, this
monstrosity,” Hollande said, adding that despite that, “France is
strong and will always be strong.”

Cazeneuve, the
country’s interior minister, said: “We are at war with
terrorists, who want to strike us at any price and in a very violent
way.”

Responsibility yet
to be claimed

No group has
immediately said it was behind the attack.

ISIL and its rival,
Al Qaeda, have both sent suicide bombers to detonate explosives-laden
trucks and other vehicles in cities around the Middle East.

ISIL claimed
responsibility for a truck bomb detonated at a crowded mall in
central Baghdad earlier this month, killing nearly 300 people just
before the start of the Muslim holiday at the end of the holy month
of Ramadan.

ISIL has previously
urged supporters to attack France

Two years ago, as
the U.S. began building an international coalition to strike ISIL
after its leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi declared a “caliphate” in
parts of eastern Syria and northern Iraq, the extremist group called
on its supporters to strike in Europe.

The group’s
spokesman, Abu Mohammed al-Adnani, said in a statement that
supporters should kill “a disbelieving American or European,
especially the spiteful and filthy French” but also “an
Australian, or a Canadian” and “any other unbeliever from the
unbelievers waging war, including the citizens of the countries that
entered into a coalition against the Islamic State.”

On Friday, the SITE
monitoring group, which tracks social media accounts and websites
used by extremist groups such as ISIL and Al Qaeda, said ISIL
supporters have been celebrating the Bastille Day attack, with some
saying: “They brought this on themselves.”

More airstrikes on
Syria, Iraq

In his speech, the
French president linked the attack to Islamic extremists, saying:
“Nice is now hit. It’s all of France that is under threat from
Islamic terrorism.”

Hollande urged
French citizens to be vigilant over the holiday weekend, and said
France was determined to continue its military action targeting ISIL.

Hollande said
France’s warplanes will step up their campaigns in Syria and Iraq,
to “hit those who hit us in our homes.”