He began by making it clear the attack at the close of Bastille Day, France’s Independence Day, was an act of Islamist terrorism.
“All of France is under threat from Islamist terrorism,” Hollande said from the Elysée Palace in Paris. “This attack, of which the terrorist nature cannot be denied, is once again of an absolute violence, and it is clear that we must do everything to fight the scourge of terrorism.”
In a separate address Friday afternoon from Nice, Hollande said about 50 other victims were “critically injured between life and death.”
Two Americans, a man and his 11-year-old son from Texas, were among the dead, according to news reports. At least 10 children were killed.
Police shot and killed the driver of the truck more than a mile after he began the carnage.
France’s justice minister, Jean-Jacques Urvoas, and other authorities identified the driver as 31-year-old Mohamed Bouhlel, a French-Tunisian who was a resident of Nice. Urvoas described Bouhlel as having been a petty criminal up until the attack, Associated Press reported.
This was the third major terrorist attack in France in 18 months, and a devastating blow to a country looking to move on from November’s attacks in Paris, in which Islamic State terrorists killed 130 in a coordinated series of bombings and shootings.
Other French officials were quick to join Hollande in declaring France was at war with Islamist terrorism.
Nicolas Sarkozy, a former French president and candidate for president in 2017 said, “We are in a war that will last, with a threat that will constantly renew itself, until it’s completed.”
He added: “Adaptation and the permanent strengthening of our will to fight against Islamist terrorism remains an absolute priority. Nothing can be as it was.”
No Reprieve
As France celebrated Bastille Day earlier Thursday, Hollande had announced that Operation Sentinelle—an emergency security crackdown put in place across France after the November Paris attacks—would officially end July 26. The attack in Nice late Thursday night quickly laid that plan to rest, however, only hours after it was announced.Hollande said in his predawn speech Friday that he would extend France’s national state of emergency by three months. France also would escalate its military campaign against the Islamic State, or ISIS, in Syria and Iraq, the visibly mournful French president added.
“We will continue striking those who attack us on our own soil,” Hollande said.
Operation Sentinelle includes deployment of 10,000 troops across France to establish de facto martial law, including 6,500 troops deployed in the Paris area alone.
Since November, the throngs of tourists at classic Parisian tourist landmarks such as the Notre Dame Cathedral, the Champs-Elysée boulevard, and the Louvre art museum have weaved around French commandos walking in combat formations with weapons drawn.
The soldiers stoically scan tourists’ faces, looking for tells that might give away a potential terrorist.
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