84 Killed in Nice terror attack

France: At least 84 people were killed and more than 100 wounded in a terror attack Thursday night after a 31 year old French citizen born in Tunisia deliberately plowed a truck full of explosives and weapons into a crowd celebrating Bastille Day in the French city of Nice.

The attacker who was well known to the police but not on a terror watch list drove more than a mile at high speed along the popular Promenade des Anglais seafront before police shot him dead.

According to France's Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve, children were among the dead and 18 people were in serious condition.

France president Francois Hollande in an address to the nation early Friday morning said;

"There's no denying the terrorist nature of this attack of yet again the most extreme form of violence," 

Hollande said that he would extend a state of emergency for another three months from July 26 which had been in place since the Paris attacks in November.

"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.

President Hollande said that the day is a "symbol of liberty," and that "human rights are denied by fanatics and France is quite clearly their target."

The attack occurred around 11:00 local time just as the firework display was ending.

Local MP Eric Ciotti said the lorry continuously rammed the crowd over a distance of two kilometres adding that the police killed the driver "apparently after an exchange of gunfire".

In a statement by US President Barack Obama, he said;

 "We stand in solidarity and partnership with France, our oldest ally, as they respond to and recover from this attack."

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau tweeted: 

"Canadians are shocked by tonight's attack in Nice. Our sympathy is with the victims, and our solidarity with the French people."

Brazilian President Michel Temer tweeted: 

"It is regrettable that on the day that eternalized fraternity as the motto of the French people, an attack destroyed the lives of so many citizens."

The United Nations also condemned what it termed a "barbaric and cowardly" terror attack.