WARNING: Graphic photos.
 
France is an uproar following a deadly attack in beautiful French Riviera city of Nice tonight. French President Francois Hollande has been recalled from Avignon to Paris in order to respond to what government sources are saying is a probable terrorist attack. Tonight, a large white truck plowed into crowds along the famed Promenade des Anglais quay. As crowds watched the annual fireworks display in celebration of Bastille Day, a driver drove at high speed for more than 100 yards and ran into a mass of spectators, killing 73 and injuring 100.
 
The screams of the wounded, dying, and the grieving filled the air in Nice where moments before all was pride in French traditions of tolerance and patriotism. Among the dead was a little girl, wrapped in Mylar, with her dolly lying next to her body. Amateur video captured the carnage, broken bodies, and death.
 
 
 
Local resident Wassim Bouhlel told AP News that he saw the driver of the truck slam into revellers in Nice. He said he saw the driver emerge from the vehicle and start shooting. "There was carnage on the road," he said, and added that he saw "Bodies everywhere."
 
 
Le Parisien newspaper reported that shots were exchanged with police and that the driver was shot to death. "A possible accomplice fled the scene," the newspaper said.
 
According to reports, the driver of the vehicle was shot dead by police after a shoot-out, according to a spokesman for the Gendarmerie. The driver was able to shoot many people before being felled by police.
Gendarmerie spokesman Sebastien Humbert described the incident as a criminal act. The driver has not yet been publicly identified. Spectators could be seen running from the scene in confusion. Nice lies close to the Italian border. Residents were told to stay indoors.
The mayor of Nice, Christian Estrosi, tweeted, "Dear Nicois, The driver of a truck appears to have killed dozens of people. Stay at home for the time being. More news to follow." Estrosi has previously warned of the risk of Muslim attacks in his region, having noted the attacks by the Islamic State in Paris and Brussels over the last year. 

A local newspaper reported that there were many injured people still lying on the street, where the dead were lying in pools of blood.

On Twitter, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump announced that he was suspending his planned news conference in light of the attack in France. He was expected to announce his vice presidential running mate.

Rita Katz of the SITE Intelligence group tweeted that pronouncements made on social media by Muslim terrorist organization in the wake of the attack in Nice echo those that were transmitted after the deadly terror attacks of last year in France and Brussels. She tweeted: "Response from #ISIS community online picked up very quickly and dramatically, similarly to that of #ParisAttack and #BrusselsAttack"

 

Conservative author and columnist Ann Coulter tweeted, ironically: "The French have it precisely right: Strict gun control + tons o' Islamic refugees = zero terrorism!"

 

The Nice Matin newspaper published a photo of a long-distance delivery truck, and reported that it was riddled with bullets. First responders were on the scene helping the wounded.

Nice Matin reporter Damien Allemand reported, "People are running. It's panic. He rode up onto the Prom and piled into the crowd ... There are people covered in blood. There must be many injured."
CNN said it has spoken to an American pilot who saw the truck ramming the crowd. The witness said the driver drove over his victims, accelerating as he went. The American witness said he saw only one person in the truck. 

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Spero News writer Martin Barillas is a former US diplomat, who also worked as a democracy advocate and election observer in Latin America. His first novel 'Shaken Earth', is available at Amazon.

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