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French Investigators Looking into Nice Attack; French President Recommends Three Month Extension of State of Emergency; World Leaders Express Outrage and Sympathy to French People over Attack. Aired 3-4a ET

Aired July 15, 2016 - 03:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[03:00:00] ISHA SESAY, CNN NEWSROOM SHOW HOST: Welcome to our viewers here in the United States and around the world. I'm Isha Sesay.

JOHN VAUSE, CNN NEWSROOM SHOW HOST: Thanks for staying with us. I'm John Vause.

French terrorism investigators are combing through a massive crime scene in right now in Nice, France. That's where a man in a large, white truck mowed down a crowd of people late Thursday.

French official say at least 84 people were killed, 18 critically wounded.

SESAY: Witnesses say the man drove for about two kilometers, more than a mile, running people down before he was shot and killed by police. Video of the attack is graphic and disturbing.

Well, French President Francois Hollande is recommending the country extend its state of emergency by three months in the wake of the attack on Nice. He flew back to Paris early Friday to deal with the situation.

VAUSE: Mr. Hollande is hosting an emergency meeting at the presidential palace. He says there is no doubt this was a terrorist attack.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FRANCOIS HOLLANDE, FRENCH PRESIDENT (FRANCE): France is afflicted with by this new tragedy. She is horrified by what has just taken place. This atrocity of using a lorry to kill. Deliberately kills dozens of people who just come to celebrate the 14th of July.

France is afflicted, but she is strong and she will always be stronger. I assure you. We'll always been stronger than the fanatics who want to strike her today.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SESAY: Well, Becky Anderson joins us now from Paris. Becky, the French, you know, as the sunrises there in France trying to come to terms with the third attack in 18 months.

BECKY ANDERSON, CNN ANCHOR: I've just seen a tweet, and I think it sort of sums it up, really, Isha. It says there are no words for this madness. It's 9 o'clock in the morning here and the French President, as you rightly point out, is now leading a meeting of the security and defense council.

Before he, and the prime minister make their way down to Nice to try to provide some sort of comfort for those who have been caught up in what is a truly terrible -- words fail me at this point -- a truly, truly terrible attack.

The hospitals in Nice have been appealing for blood. They've been doing that all night and they continue to do so, as you pointed out. 84 people killed, including children, and 18 in emergency care at present.

This attacker drove the truck down the Promenade des Anglais as thousands of people were gathered last night around 10 o'clock in the evening to celebrate Bastille Day and to watch the fireworks on the beach.

One witness account suggests that people simply ran into the water, some hundred people it was reported at one stage had to be rescued from the sea. This truck was driven relatively slowly, we hear, zigzagging.

The gunman spraying people with bullets as he drove and mowing people down in front of him until he was stopped by police or security services who shot and killed him through the front windows of this truck. And you can see the images of this truck peppered with shots.

The French President, about 3.30 in the morning, spoke to the nation and he said, had the security and police forces in Nice this southern beach resort town not acted as quickly as they did, this could have been a whole lot worst.

We are waiting to hear what President Hollande says when he comes out of this meeting. But the context for this is simply this has been 18 months of trauma for this country.

The Charlie Hebdo back in January of 2015, eight months ago, 130 people shot in Paris. Emergency powers brought in at that point. And now a state of emergency, which was to be lifted next week, now to be imposed through October. A truly, truly, traumatic day, not just for France, but for the watching world.

For those who are waking up this morning who went to bed before 10 o'clock in this country last night will be absolutely horrified by what they are seeing on their television sets and reading in their newspapers today. It's awful.

[03:05:09] VAUSE: It is awful, to say the least. It is horrific. And it is very difficult to try and find the words to describe what so many people have endured. And exactly what will happen in the coming days and weeks. Becky, thank you.

SESAY: Thank you, Becky.

VAUSE: Becky Anderson, live in Paris. And we have more video from social media which illustrates the horrific aftermath of the attack and, again, a warning, it is graphic.

SESAY: Yes, it certainly is. We have edited it so that we can show it to you, but it is still disturbing.

(FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

SESAY: So many witnesses had stories of horror and chaos.

VAUSE: And earlier, we spoke with Tony Molina. He was at the scene with his family.

TONY MOLINA, EYEWITNESS: My son and I walked out. My wife quickly join us. And as we walk out, this is when we see this panel truck coming into our field of vision and just, you know, plowing through the crowd in front of us.

And I estimated it had probably gone about half a mile, a half mile in at that point from wherever it began because it took us, you know, a couple seconds to realize, I hear the noise, go outside and then just see this truck plummeting through people in front of us.

So, it went through. You know, unfortunately, we see, did see people getting hit and people scattering. It was a little odd because at the time just before all this, we were walking down the street a couple hours before and there were, you know, law enforcement and military everywhere.

And when this happened, it was a little odd to look down. It felt really odd to look and see, you know, really not much of a presence in that specific area where we were. So, it just felt very helpless to be looking down and seeing this unfold and not being able to do one thing about it.

So, anyways, the panel truck continued on. We lost sight of it as it went down probably another half a mile or so and we heard a few seconds later just the barrage of gunfire.

VAUSE: So, Tony, you say that you clocked the security presence before all of this happened. So there was, what, a lot of military there, a lot of police who were on the streets? Were they armed? Did you notice anything about that part of the security?

MOLINA: Yes. In fact, we had dinner kind of near the casino area, which is where I think it ended, somewhere in that area. And when we were in that area, you know, there's bands, there were bands set up, spread out throughout the boardwalk.

So, military and police were just walking, doing foot patrols, a lot of police like cordoning off areas, streets. There was a huge police presence. I'm assuming police, law enforcement-type presence out in this area. That whole time frame that we were walking around.

SESAY: And, Tony, from your vantage point, as this truck made its way down the Promenade, what could you see of the driver, if anything, specific? Could you see him firing out of the truck? We have heard some reports of that. What did you see?

MOLINA: I could not see the driver at all. And in the area that he passed in front of where we're staying at, I did not hear any -- he did want appear to be firing a weapon at that time. Based on what I've heard and my understanding, he was doing that before entering there where we were at.

SESAY: An eyewitness who spoke to us a short time ago, but we want to go straight to Paris where our own Becky Anderson is standing now with some new information. Becky?

ANDERSON: That's right. Local media reporting here a little bit more about who we believe this attacker was. French authorities still investigating the identity of the attacker. And comparing this identity card that was found in the truck to the man that police shot dead in the truck.

Let's remind our viewers there is an identity card for a 31-year-old French-Tunisian man, a resident of Nice. And they've been trying, continue to try to match that with the body of the driver that was the pulled from that -- the cab of that truck when he was shot and killed by police.

Authorities -- and this is important. Authorities have found several fake rifles and fake grenades inside the truck. This according, again, to local media.

[03:10:02] A 7.65 caliber handgun found on the attacker who was known to authorities for weapons possession and crimes. But nothing terror- related.

Now, remember, this is an investigation in its very early stages, but being led by the anti-terror unit here. And while there's been no claim of responsibility in the pass, we know the groups like ISIS have urged their followers to carry out the sort of attack that we have seen.

But at present, it seems at least local media here now reporting that this man was known to police for weapons related crime, but not on a terror list as far as we understand it. Isha?

SESAY: All right. Becky Anderson joining us there from Paris.

VAUSE: Thanks, Becky. I could be wrong, but I think the .65 caliber refers to the ammunition, and what they're referring to here is a .325 automatic browning, which is a small pistol. We need to get more clarification because maybe that's what they saw in the translation.

SESAY: Absolutely.

VAUSE: But what we're talking about here is a small handgun which is a Browning. It's an automatic colt pistol, which is a .32 or 3-2.

SESAY: For more on the attack in Nice, we're joined from Paris by Christian Mallard, he is a French journalist and an international diplomatic consultant. Christian, good to have you with us.

CHRISTIAN MALLARD, FRENCH JOURNALIST: Good morning.

SESAY: So many questions about how this happened. I mean, chief among them, how on earth was a truck able to make its way on to the Promenade des Anglais? That is a question many people are asking.

MALLARD: I am not surprised at all by what happened. Because Nice can -- the two big cities of the -- this is part of France have a lot on their soil, they have a lot of Muslim fundamentally Salafist cells.

But I can give you an information from people I know through DCI, which is a French FBI, is that beginning of January, they arrested one man (Inaudible) He was the owner of an halal snack bar/restaurant. And they found plans inside the restaurant for attacking the famous Carlton Hotel in neighboring City of Cannes.

And yesterday, we had another Franco Tunisian man who tried this terrorist attack yesterday evening on Promenade des Anglais. So, we know about all the whereabouts and what's going on in these two cities, so I'm not surprised at all.

When I heard President Hollande saying we were going to strengthen our attacks in Syria, in Iraq siding with our American partners and other member of the international coalition, fine, great.

But then at the same time, he repeated, we are at war. That we are at war inside our country here. Because we have a lot of people who are supporting ISIS.

One man of the French services told me not long time ago that not in Paris, but Paris all areas, suburbs, we have at least 15,000 people who were supporters of ISIS. So, it's an internal war and we need to extend more information, to share more information. This is the problem.

President Hollande in this meeting this morning will probably say that we need to strengthen our exchange of information between French, Belgium other European countries which is under the ISIS threat.

But once more, going back to Nice and all that, I am not surprised all this area is stuffed with a lot of Muslim fundamentalist cells.

VAUSE: Christian, there will no doubt be a very intense political debate about intelligence and security policy there in France, especially after a parliamentary inquiry there found out that intelligence leading up to first, the Charlie Hebdo attack and then the Paris attacks back in November, it was extremely lacking, they were ill prepared.

And the intelligence agencies were heavily criticized for failures. And now you have this attack in Nice. So, clearly, the president, the government is under a lot of pressure to do something which they have failed to do all to this point.

MALLARD: You are right. And we need also people are very aware of the fact and it has been alluded to many times on public. We need to change our law, we have a law which says that we can -- we can only arrest these people, getting into action and a terrorist attack. Only once have committed that terrorist action.

My God. We need to change the law and make our services, the police and other people to be able to anticipate once they know about the person that they are looking after. And also surveying that this man is going to get ready to get into action. They could anticipate and prevent him from getting into action.

[03:14:59] So, we are very aware of the weakness of our constitutional law and we need to change it. It dates back to the former Justice Minister Madam Taubira who was very charge with being very laxest. And we pay the price for it partly.

VAUSE: OK. Christian, it's always good to speak with you. Thank you so much for being with us.

SESAY: Yes, thank you so much.

VAUSE: A short break here. Much more of our breaking news coverage of the France terror attack in a moment. Our terrorist security expert panel will be back. We'll also hear what world leaders have to say.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, everyone. This is your Road to Rio update.

With just weeks to go now before the games, German sailors say they are concerned about shifty winds, wild currents, and floating trash affecting their races. They say they found plastic bags, bottles and even dead dogs in the water, making one of the most challenging sailing venues even harder.

Some disappointing news for five-time triathlon Javier Gomez Noya, the London silver medalist is out of Euro 2016 after breaking his arm.

Noya posting a photo of the injury on Instagram saying he fell while bike training. He said he'll have surgery Thursday and hopes to make a quick recovery.

The Olympic torch getting closer to Rio after reaching Curitiba in Brazil.

CNN's own Arwa Damon and Shasta Darlington getting the chance to carry the torch Wednesday when it reaches Rio. The torch will have traveled 20,000 kilometer across Brazil and passed through the hands of 12,000 relay runners.

Sixty athletes from the Brazilian Olympic team met with acting President Michel Temer at the Presidential Palace on Wednesday. Temer congratulating the team, wishing them success. There are at least 460 Brazilian athletes competing this year compared to less than 300 in the 2008 Beijing Games.

And that is your Road to Rio update. I'm Michael Holmes.

VAUSE: Welcome back, everybody. Nineteen minutes past 12 here in Los Angeles.

An update now on our breaking news coverage. The deadly terror attack in Nice, France.

At this hour, French President Francois Hollande is holding an emergency meeting of his security and defense council.

SESAY: French officials say at least 84 people are dead after man in a large truck plowed into a crowd celebrating Bastille Day. Police shot and killed him.

Mr. Hollande is traveling to Nice once the security meeting in Paris is over.

VAUSE: Joining us now, CNN law enforcement contributor Steve Moore and security expert Aaron Cohen. Steve, first to you. I want to go back to those live images that we've been looking of the truck there in Nice.

[03:20:01] Because right now, that's the crime scene, that's the maor clue that investigators have right now. We can see the investigators who have been going through this truck. What are they looking for? What are they likely to get out of it?

STEVE MOORE, RETIRED FBI SUPERVISORY SPECIAL AGENT: Well, they're going to be looking for any clues that lead them back to where this came from. But I'll tell you right now, that's not their main investigative scene right now because they've identified this person. They've got a criminal record on him.

They're going to go back and right now, as we are talking before, there's probably doors being kicked. And if there's no doors being kicked, there are people under surveillance right now who might be potential either witnesses or accomplices.

And so, this right now has gone well beyond what you're seeing here. The main investigation is no longer at the crime scene.

VAUSE: Are they at the point now though, where they have to be literally kicking in doors, going house to house, block to block?

MOORE: It's going to depend on what they picked up from the background on this guy. Because, frankly, you're not going to find a whole bunch here. I mean, it was a truck. It's not like you can trace explosives, things like that. So, you know, they might be able to trace the AK, but those are -- those are...

(CROSSTALK)

VAUSE: Well, we're hearing now that it may be fake or they were inactive or something like that. SESAY: yes, indeed. So, Aaron, one would expect this to be an

investigation that goes well beyond France's borders. So talk to us about the international angles, all of it.

AARON COHEN, SECURITY EXPERT: France is going to be reaching out to its international allies, they are going to reaching out to Israel, they are going to Armussad (ph), as well as Al-Shabaka or (Inaudible) of general security or FBI. They are going to reaching out to mi5, mi6.

All of the intelligence organizations are going to be probably dumping a pretty decent amount of intelligence in order to be able to decimate who the persons -- who matches the I.D., the individual who was killed by law enforcement, as well as any data that can be extracted from that cell phone.

And so, that cell phone is the big play. Where is that phone, what text, well, I tell you right now here is where we have technology that can literally get the -- not only that phone, but phones that are active, the real key is to get that live activity.

SESAY: But let me ask you this, Aaron. I mean, maybe I've watched too many movies, but I thought these people are now using burn phones. I thought they were aware of how to use secret communication systems. I mean, how useful will the phone be? How much can they extract from it.

COHEN: Steve will be able to crack that. It's a bleeding -- it's a bleeding living organism. It's everything. And text messages, e-mails, where have you been? How long were you were there, everything down to what the text message said.

MOORE: For instance, here is something that they can do. They can take that phone and they'll know the number. They'll know all the information off that phone and they're going to check every single cell tower it pinged off of in the last six hours before the attack.

Then they're going to get a list of every single other phone that pinged off all those cell towers at the same time and you might find one that pinged at the same cell towers at the same time. So, a burner phone isn't going to help them at that point.

VAUSE: We're in a situation that Nice was different, that Istanbul which is different, that Paris which is different to the earlier Charlie Hebdo attack, which, you know, the list just goes on and on. So, clearly what we're seeing now is this huge change of tactics which these terrorist groups are carrying out.

MOORE: You're going to continue to see that. Because every attack is going to be slightly different because they know that law enforcement tends to fight the last attack. And prepare for the last attack.

And so every time they do this, they are going to try to morph just a little bit into a new tactic that will be something that we hadn't seen before. The shoe bomber, the underwear bomber. Nobody before 9/11 had ever seen airliners hijacked by box cutters and flown into buildings.

SESAY: So, Aaron, we just had Christian Mallard make the point on our air that France is at war internally. So, if you take that, that premise that it's a war internally, the fact that the French president is talking about doubling down on air strikes in Syria and Iraq, I mean, what good does that do for their own internal situation on the ground?

COHEN: Well, that's offense. And you need offense in order to be able to ultimately win the game. You need both, you need offense and you need defense. Right now, there's a big beef up of the defense right now. There's hundreds of more law enforcement officers that are now on the streets.

The Gendarmerie, and then the offensive piece would be, obviously, going abroad, getting back into Raqqa, getting back into Syria and Iraq and putting pressure on the actual militants.

The good thing about Syria and Iraq is that it's really an incubator for would-be Jihadists to go and want to fight this western war or against the west. And so, it's actually a vacuum that strategically, I believe, is looked at to keep attacks away from our western soil.

[03:25:00] It doesn't seem to be working 100 percent because we're putting pressure. Now that's the -- and now that ISIS or ISIL is feeling the heat on the offensive, now what they're starting to do is they're starting to penetrate the defense.

And that goes back to what Steve was saying which is they're going to be constantly morphing. It's like water in the glass, just takes the new shape in order to be able to form.

And so, wherever they have the opportunity of least resistance, they're going to go. So, if they can, if they're getting bombed and they're getting, you know, stoned into, you know, who knows where, then here they go back into Paris and the U.S., et cetera.

But you have to continue to do both because ultimately at the end of the day, unless you provide that disruption, you're going to continue to have loss of land in Iraq. And again, this -- we've seen genocide with Christians in Iraq.

This is not a Jewish thing, it's not a Christian thing. It's everywhere, you know. That's so, this organization is going wherever it can. So, that's -- we're just going to cork it all.

VAUSE: OK. Well, let's leave it there, but it does seem counterintuitive to a lot of people to say this is a sign that ISIS is losing.

SESAY: Yes.

VAUSE: That's another discussion.

COHEN: There is a lot of work to do. This isn't in this fight, so.

VAUSE: Yes. OK. Guys, thank you.

SESAY: Yes, thank you.

VAUSE: Well, Chancellor Angela Merkel is expressing Germany's solidarity with France.

SESAY: And she spoke about the attack from a summit in Mongolia.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANGELA MERKEL, GERMAN CHANCELLOR (TRANSLATED): Words cannot express what connects us with our French friends in these painful hours. This terrible attack happened on their national holiday, a holiday which is a day of pride that has now become a day of great mourning.

Our sympathy can, by nature, never make up for the loss of so many lives, but in these days, there must be solidarity. The solidarity of all the people in Germany with friends in France. The solidarity of all the countries who are involved in the fight against terrorism.

Germany stands with France in the fight against terrorism. Together with many, many others, and I am convinced that despite the difficulties, we will win this fight.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Other world leaders expressed the outrage and sympathy on social media. The Belgium Prime Minister Charles Michel tweeted this, "Sadness and emotion deep following the events of Nice. All my thoughts for the victims of this heinous act and our French friends."

SESAY: Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau tweeted "Canadians are shocked by tonight's in Nice. Our sympathy is with the victims and our solidarity with the French people."

VAUSE: Well, day has dawned in Nice, France. The morning after a deadly terror attack.

After the break, a former FBI counterterrorism agent will give us his take on the tragedy.

[03:30:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VAUSE: Thanks for staying with us, everybody, 12.30 here on a Friday morning in Los Angeles. We like to welcome our viewers in the United States and all around the world. I'm John Vause.

SESAY: And I'm Isha Sesay. Welcome back, everyone.

We're following that devastating breaking news out of Southern France. A terror attack on Bastille Day celebrations in Nice. The French interior minister tells AFP that 84 people were killed. A truck driver plowed through a crowd gathered for fireworks on the French national holiday.

VAUSE: Police shot and killed the driver. Authorities say they found firearms, explosives and grenades inside that truck. But the Agence France-Presse is citing law enforcement sources who say some of those items were fake.

Officials also found an identity card of a 31-year-old French- Tunisian. Authorities are now trying to determine if that matches the identity of the driver.

SESAY: Our own Becky Anderson joins us now from Paris. And, Becky, I've got to ask you, you know, we have mentioned it multiple times over the last couple of hours, that this is the third attack to hit France in 18 months.

As you look at it, as you look at the situation, are there political implications for the French President, Francois Hollande here and his government?

ANDERSON: This is a man who has terrible ratings, something -- we were talking about this just earlier on, down in the teens at this point as we push towards presidential elections. The discussion, really, across France is what happens next here?

It's normally pretty obvious here in France. It's normally one side that has a clear lead as you run towards these selections. But it really isn't clear at this point and with the right wing, the party run by Marine Le Pen coming up in the popularity states, as it were.

Some of this blamed on Brexit, for example, and people say that populism has taken over, not just in the U.K., but here, as well. Looking at something like 30 percent of the voting public looking to support here at this point. Not enough to have her become president likely, but yes.

I mean, this is a really, really, really difficult time for Francois Hollande, who is, as we speak, chairing a security and defense council meeting here in Paris before, he goes down with the prime minister to Nice to provide some sort of comfort if he can to those who have been involved in these attacks.

And this is the front page today of Le Figaro. And the papers beginning to come out now. And the headline simply says "Horror once again." You rightly point out, this is 18 months ago.

Remember in France the attacks on the Charlie Hebdo offices of January 2015. Eight months ago, 130 people shot at various locations here in Paris. An emergency -- a state of emergency in place since then. It was going to be lifted in a week or so time.

And the president tonight, in the middle of the night, about 3.30 in the morning suggesting that that will now be extended, giving him the emergency powers to put more police on the streets were that to be needed and he's certainly implementing that down in Nice, already.

With an extra 500 police and security detail we are told on the streets of the southern beach resort town where this terrible, terrible truck attack was carried out. Just about 10 o'clock last night. Nearly 12 hours ago now. A truck being driven slowly down a two kilometer road.

It's the Promenade des Anglais which is the road that runs along the beach, and zigzagging and mowing people down in its wake. The driver shooting from the cab. The driver, we know a little bit more detail on French media.

Let me just briefly bring you up to date on that. Say that this is a man who was known to authorities for weapons possession crimes, but not known to be on an intelligence watch list. There is an identity card that's been found in the cab of this truck.

[03:35:02] It belongs, it seems, to a 31-year-old French-Tunisian man. And they are trying to link up the body that was removed from this truck, the driver of this truck and that identity card to see whether they are indeed the same character, that being the perpetrator of this awful, awful crime. Isha?

SESAY: Becky Anderson, we very much appreciate the update. Becky Anderson there for us in Paris. Thank you.

VAUSE: Well, for more on the attack in -- attack in Nice, French, we're joined by Tim Clemente, he's a former FBI counterterrorism agent. Tim, I'm just wondering it's the question we've been asking right now, not that, you know, how did this happen, but why didn't -- how is it that something on this scale, an attack like this, didn't happen sooner?

TIM CLEMENTE, FORMER FBI COUNTERTERRORISM AGENT: I think that is the question. Obviously, they've been targeting the west for quite some time. This is nothing new. It's been happening for decades. They've tried to do more sophisticated attacks.

I think you look at 9/11 and the planning that went into that. Literally I believe it was about five years of planning. The actual preplanning where they were taking the flight over and over again that each of the different teams have taken took months.

And so, that was -- that was a whole lot of planning for one attack. Something like this, much more spontaneous. And this is the direction ISIS is taking terror where Al Qaeda was much more the top down, you had to be approved before you could sanctions attack under Al Qaeda's banner.

Now we see ISIS saying they're spreading this out like a disease into the general populous of -- especially in young Muslim men trying to get them radicalized. In any attack you can do, any blood shed you can spread is good for their cause.

SESAY: Christian Mallard, who is a French journalist was on our air a short time ago and he made this point that this is an internal war within France. That they had people within their own borders who are waging a battle against the state.

CLEMENTE: Absolutely.

SESAY: How on earth does a government fight back? How do you wage that kind of war without decimating your entire society?

CLEMENTE: Yes, that's the tough balance. Because especially France has a lot of liberties that we have here. We have first and fourth amendment protections which provide people the ability to say what they want to say, to believe what they want to be believing in, and also to be secure in their houses, homes, and in their possessions.

We can't have both. Unfortunately, we cannot have absolute security in those personal rights and absolute security as a society. So, there has to be a balancing point. And that balancing point is going to involve the Muslim community around the world, especially in the western world but literally around the world.

I work counterterrorism all over the Middle East, Europe, Africa, and the Balkans, and I work very closely with Muslims in each of those communities. Everywhere we work, we work with them. But we need to engage them more here, this the west.

Now, France has a very large Muslim population, especially coming from North Africa. This individual came from Tunisia. He's one of many. Obviously a small minority of that population is the problem. But that population has to be part of the solution.

VAUSE: I will ask you about the handgun which we are hearing from BFM TV that that was found. They're saying it's a 7.65 caliber. Is that referring to ammunition or is it the handgun.

CLEMENTE: Yes, that's caliber of the barrel.

VAUSE: Yes.

CLEMENTE: And the caliber of the ammunition...

VAUSE: So, what's the gun of that?

CLEMENTE: ... 7.65 millimeter which is the 9 millimeter is a typical nato around so it's not a very large diameter bullet, 7.65. That in a pistol would be a very small cartridge. You have a 7.62 also a rifle caliber which is a much larger bullet and a much larger gun.

VAUSE: Is it pretty common firearm?

CLEMENTE: Yes. It's common in Europe, especially.

SESAY: And, Tim, very quickly. An unsophisticated attack. And the fact that it was a vehicle that was used. But let me ask you this briefly. Would it still have required some amount of training?

CLEMENTE: Not necessarily training. Just planning. What's going to be the target? Obviously, they're looking for iconic engagements. That's what Al Qaeda has done for decades and ISIS is doing the same thing. That's why 9/11 was an important day. That's the World Trade Center is attacked two times.

And so, they always want to attack whatever society they were going after they want to kill those icons first. So, Bastille Day, very big for France. Obviously, 4th of July would have been the same for us.

Thankfully, they're taking a lot of time to plan these things. France is a much easier target because it's closer to the homeland. For those people for any financial or material support they might need. In this case, he needed a gun, he needed some ammunition and he needed to rent a truck. That's all it took to kill 84 poor souls in France.

VAUSE: Tim, nice speaking with you.

SESAY: Yes. Thank you.

VAUSE: Because it light this out but your insight is very much appreciated.

SESAY: Yes, very much. So, thank you.

Well, stay with us for more of our breaking news coverage of the terror attack in Nice, France. Hear from people who had to run to safety.

[03:40:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SESAY: Terrible scenes playing out in Nice, France. French terrorism investigators are at the scene of Thursday night's deadly attack in Nice.

A man driving this truck plowed into a crowd of people celebrating Bastille Day, killing at least 84. Several of the victims were children. Officers shot and killed the driver.

French media quoting police say the attacker had a handgun along with several fake rifles and grenades. He was also apparently known to police for possession of weapons crimes, but not terrorism.

VAUSE: OK. Let's bring in Christophe Premat, he is a French Member of Parliament, he joins us on the phone from Nice. Mr. Prima, thank you for being with us.

Just bring us up to date with exactly what you know at this point about the investigation. I know that you are being told about who the driver of the truck may have been and who may have been behind this attack there in Nice.

CHRISTOPE PREMAT, FRENCH PARLIAMENT MEMBER: Well, of course, it's a very tough feeling, experience of what happened yesterday because I was very near the Promenade des Anglais when it happened. So, you saw the crowds moving in different directions.

But you come back to the investigation, it's too early to make a statement right now. So, I just heard about the identity of -- the identity of the man that was found in the car -- in the truck. I mean, that was maybe a French-Tunisian citizen, but we are not sure about that, if it's the name of the killer.

But yes, so the investigation, right now, we're trying to secure the -- of course, the city and we try also to push through our investigation. So, the first steps are very important in order to save up time.

SESAY: Mr. Premat, prior to this happening, were authorities in Nice aware of any kind of terror threat in the region, in the area?

[03:45:07] PREMAT: Well, I was there, so I saw many policemen, I saw security forces yesterday in Nice. But, of course, yes, we had some -- actually, we had the parliament, the completion of the report made from an investigative committee regarding the terror attacks in Paris in November.

And some intelligence services, some chief told us that the new forms of attacks might happen in France, involving cars and things like that. Unfortunately, it was this kind of attack that happened yesterday.

So, yes, we are aware of that but it's very hard to face this kind of situation as individuals can create such a chaos, killing of 84 people and wounding many others. So, I think it's -- it's very hard for the security forces to react in a very quick way when you have a big crowd like that celebrating such a big event as the national day yesterday.

VAUSE: And Mr. Premat, you said you were there last night when all this happened. Did you actually see the attack? Were you there when all of this was happening or were you there before or after the attack?

PREMAT: No, no, I was there actually with my family because I wanted to celebrate the national day with them. It was a very tough year, so we were just finishing the dinner with the kids and we heard the gunshots just after the display of fireworks.

But, of course, I didn't realize that it was a terror attack going on. But it was actually it was just an extension of the fireworks. And then when we saw the crowd moving in different ways, we just got inside a building with the kids and we were just different families waiting there, 15, 20 minutes.

And then we realized something wrong was happening, so we had to move and we left the center, we left Nice. There were security forces in different areas to guide us in order to evacuate. So, that's a terrible feeling that I experienced yesterday. I didn't know that I was going to -- I was going to happen that way.

SESAY: Mr. Premat, the French President Francois Hollande in remarks to the nation he said he will seek an extension of the state of emergency for another three months. Is that a move you support?

PREMAT: Well, of course we cannot be -- I think we're in time in emergency situation. But I think we need to -- when you have such an attack link, killing so many people, you need to give all the possibilities to the security forces, especially during the summertime. Now after the national day, we are in the vacation -- in the time of vacation.

So, I think it's very important that the security forces can act in a quicker way. So I think that's the extension of the emergency state is totally justified. But then I think people have to be aware if we just quit the state of emergency that doesn't mean that the security forces won't work in the same way.

It's just have that they have to have all the means in order to see if they can prevent other terror attacks from happening.

VAUSE: And Mr. Premat, if we could go back to last night, you said you were having dinner there with your family when all of this happened. And you quickly evacuated the scene.

Did you see the aftermath of the attack? Many people we have spoken to the described the utter carnage and the death that is on the Promenade there and some horrific scenes. Did you experience that also with your family?

PREMAT: I didn't, no. I didn't come back to the Promenade des Anglais. I think the first thing for the father is just to secure the family. But, of course, I talked to different people in the streets and I talk to people that experienced what happened in the Promenade des Anglais.

I remember I just talked to two teenagers, they were there, they say, yes, there are something crazy happening there, they've just shooting everywhere. But I think they were meant shooting the security forces that killed the driver, and so on.

So, you could see this kind of feeling but when it happened I think the best thing is just to leave. You react towards what you saw so that the forces and the medical forces can act in a quicker way. I think that you have to leave the room for them. It's so, so important.

So, that's why -- I must say even that if we had many people -- many panic state and people around the same time, people tried to help each other, tried to give information, tried to react in a very rational way.

[03:50:07] So that's -- in that sense, I was very proud of the way the people just reacted last night.

VAUSE: Christophe Premat, a member of Parliament speaking to us on the line from Nice. We're glad that you are well and safe with your family. And we wish you all the best, sir. And thank you for sharing your experience with us on CNN, also the insight into the investigation. Much appreciated.

SESAY: Thank you very much. We're going to take a quick break now. And when we come back, we'll bring you up to date on the terror attack in Nice, France.

Just ahead, one witness describes the chaos and confusion during the attack.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, everyone. This is your Road to Rio update. With just weeks to go now before the games, German sailors say they

are concerned about shifty winds, wild currents, and floating trash affecting their races. They say they found plastic bags, bottles and even dead dogs in the water, making one of the most challenging sailing venues even harder.

Some disappointing news for five-time triathlon Javier Gomez Noya, the London silver medalist is out of Euro 2016 after breaking his arm.

Noya posting a photo of the injury on Instagram saying he fell while bike training. He said he'll have surgery Thursday and hopes to make a quick recovery.

The Olympic torch getting closer to Rio after reaching Curitiba in Brazil.

CNN's own Arwa Damon and Shasta Darlington getting the chance to carry the torch Wednesday when it reaches Rio. The torch will have traveled 20,000 kilometer across Brazil and passed through the hands of 12,000 relay runners.

Sixty athletes from the Brazilian Olympic team met with acting President Michel Temer at the Presidential Palace on Wednesday. Temer congratulating the team, wishing them success. There are at least 460 Brazilian athletes competing this year compared to less than 300 in the 2008 Beijing Games.

And that is your Road to Rio update. I'm Michael Holmes.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VAUSE: Welcome back, everybody. An update now on the breaking news out of the Nice, France. The French interior ministry says 84 people have been killed.

According to the French news agency, Agence France-Presse, this is the scene there right now in Nice where it is 6 minutes before 10 on a Friday morning.

[03:55:01] A man in a white truck opened fire on a huge crowd of people along a beach front Promenade and plowed his vehicle into the crowd. Police shot and killed him.

SESAY: The investigator tell French media they found several fake rifles and an active grenade inside that truck. They also found the identity card of the 31-year-old French-Tunisian man. They are trying to figure out if it, indeed, belongs to the driver.

VAUSE: A witness gave a detailed account of how the horror unfolded. He said he was a step or two away from the truck which slammed through the crowd.

SESAY: And here is what he is to say. You also hear a reporter translating from English to French for viewers in France.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) UNIDENTIFIED MALE (TRANSLATED): We told you he lost control and he

was also moving inside like this, like this, and I saw he was holding something, like a cell phone. I thought he would call the ambulance. So, this is what I told them, like it was just a car accident. A traffic accident?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (TRANSLATED): Yes. So, this is all what we thought. And in one second, I saw him taking out his gun. So, again...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was a gun? It was a rifle?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (TRANSLATED): No, no, a gun.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Pistol.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. And even though I was still naive to think that maybe someone is attacking here from the other side. And he is trying to defend himself exactly. Until I saw the police, he started to shoot at the police. Because he saw the police is going in a circle around him around the window.

And in that moment, the officer asked me and the person next to me to run because it was a gun shooting.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SESAY: So many dramatic accounts emerge in the days ahead. Thank you for watching CNN Newsroom, live from Los Angeles. I'm Isha Sesay.

VAUSE: I'm John Vause. Much more on the breaking news in just a moment. You're watching CNN.

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