Footage has emerged of the moment just before a truck mowed down and killed dozens of people in Nice, France, as they gathered for a Bastille Day fireworks display.
Video shows the large van being driven down the promenade of the French Riviera city, in a terror attack that has already claimed the lives of more than 84 people.
At least 18 injured are in a critical condition.
Reuters said a police source had revealed the driver was a 31-year-old Tunisian-born Frenchman was the driver.
The video below does not show the moment the truck hits the crowd. It does contain distressing images.
There is still confusion on what exactly happened on a night when thousands were celebrating. Witnesses, mostly unnamed, recounted on French television scenes of horror, with one saying the truck mowed people down like a ball in a bowling alley.
Further video footage showed men and women - one or two pushing strollers - racing to get away from the scenes. Photos showed a truck with at least half a dozen bullet holes in its windshield.
Wassim Bouhlel, a Nice native, told The Associated Press that he saw a truck drive into the crowd. “There was carnage on the road,” he said. “Bodies everywhere.” He said the driver emerged with a gun and started shooting.
The map below shows the route the truck took, turning left onto Promenade Des Anglas by a children’s hospital before striking groups of people in three suspected locations along the road.
President Francois Hollande has called a defence council meeting Friday with key ministers, and will head to Nice after that.
He also announced a series of measures to bolster security. Besides continuing the state of emergency and the Sentinel operation with 10,000 soldiers on patrol, Hollande said he was calling up “operational reserves,” those who have served in the past and will be brought in to help police, particularly at French borders.
He reiterated that France is also bolstering its presence in Iraq and Syria, where he said earlier military advisers would be on the ground to help Iraqis take back the Islamic State stronghold of Mosul.
French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said in the aftermath of the attack: “We are in a war with terrorists who want to strike us at any price and in a very violent way.”
