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3rd LD: At least 73 people killed as truck rams into crowd in S. France's Nice,investigation launched

Xinhua, July 15, 2016 Adjust font size:

At least 73 peoples were killed and many others injured as a truck rammed into crowd in Nice, southern France, local TV channels reported early Friday, citing the prosecutor of Nice.

The anti-terrorism section of Paris public prosecutor's office opened an investigation into the assassination and assassination attempts, the reports said.

At this stage, "we can not describe these things as an attack, but many elements suggest that," BFMTV quoted the prosecutor Jean-Michel Pretre as saying.

At 22:30 Thursday night local time, a truck drove at high speed into the crowd who gathered on the promenade to watch fireworks marking July 14, the French national day, wrote Christian Estrosi, president of the region of Provence-Alpes-Cote d'Azur, on Twitter.

Estrosi described the incident as "the worst Nice drama of history."

Estrosi told BFMTV that the truck was loaded with weapons and grenades.

BFMTV said the truck "traveled for two kilometers ploughing people."

The driver in the incident, which was earlier reportedly described by the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes as an "attack", was neuralized and probe was launched to determine whether he acted alone, the interior ministry said.

French President Francois Hollande, who was in Avignon, was going back to Paris where he will directly go to the crisis unit at the Interior Ministry, according to Elysee.

Bernard Cazeneuve, Interior Minister, will arrive at Nice in the coming hours, said Pierre-Henry Brandet, the spokesperson of Interior Ministry, adding that there was no hostage in the incident. Endit