At least 84 people have now been confirmed dead after an apparent terrorist attack in Nice, France, in which a truck driver plowed the vehicle through a crowd, and also opened fire on people, before being shot dead by police, the Washington Post reports.
Another 18 people were in critical condition, French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve announced early Friday.
The truck was driven into the crowd after a fireworks display for Bastille Day, the French national day. France has since declared three days of national mourning beginning Saturday.
Early Friday morning, French President François Hollande slammed the "attack whose terrorist nature cannot be denied." He also announced that France would boost its military efforts in Syria and Iraq.
The suspect has been identified as a 31-year-old French-Tunisian man, who was apparently known by French police for committing common crimes but was not known to outside intelligence sources, according to the report.
France's state of emergency, which had been imposed after a horrific terrorist attack in November in which armed suicide bombers killed 130 people in multiple places across Paris—making it the deadliest attack on French soil since World War II—was due to be lifted later this month. Hollande announced Friday that the state of emergency would be extended for another three months.
“All of France is under the threat of Islamic terrorism,” the French president said. "[France] is strong. She will always be stronger, I assure you, than the fanatics that want to attack her today.”
President Barack Obama released his own statement Thursday night, saying that he had directed his team to contact French officials.
"We have offered any assistance that they may need to investigate this attack and bring those responsible to justice," he said. "We stand in solidarity and partnership with France, our oldest ally, as they respond to and recover from this attack."
Read more at the Washington Post.