The Latest: Romanian dies from wounds in Nice truck attack

NICE, France — The Latest on the Bastille Day truck attack in Nice, France, that killed 84 people (all times local):

6:05 p.m.

French President Francois Hollande is defending his government’s military actions against Islamic extremists — even while acknowledging they are part of the reason extremists have repeatedly attacked his country.

Seeking to explain why France is so often targeted, most recently with a truck rampage in Nice last week claimed by the Islamic State group, Hollande cited the country’s traditions of liberty and human rights.

But he said it’s also “because France is fighting against terrorism, against fundamentalism, against fanaticism.”

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He said France will continue its military operations abroad, which include airstrikes in Iraq and Syria, anti-terrorism operations in Africa and special forces in Libya. Hollande said “it is our honour and our duty.”

He also urged lawmakers to approve an extension of the state of emergency in place since deadly attacks in Paris on Nov. 13.

Hollande was speaking Tuesday during a visit to Portugal.

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2:20 p.m.

Romania’s foreign ministry says a Romanian man has died of wounds sustained in the Bastille Day truck attack in Nice.

The ministry said French authorities on Tuesday confirmed the man’s death. He had previously been declared missing. No further details were provided.

The ministry said the man’s wife and seven-year-old boy who were also wounded in the July 14 attack were doing well at a hospital in Nice and receiving help from the Romanian consulate in Marseille.

Romanian President Klaus Iohannis sent his condolences and said the country would remain “together with our European and international partners in the fight against terrorism.”

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12:40 p.m.

Two more suspects in the Bastille Day truck attack that killed 84 people have been transferred to French intelligence headquarters in Paris to face likely terrorism charges.

The July 14 attack occurred when Tunisian Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel plowed through crowds watching fireworks on Nice’s famed Promenade des Anglais on the French Riviera before he was shot by police.

The two are among the six people remain in custody in the probe into the attack, according to an official with the Paris prosecutor’s office, which oversees national terrorism investigations. Three of the six already had been transferred to the intelligence headquarters on Monday.

Prosecutor Francois Molins has said the suspects include one who Bouhlel sent a text message to minutes before the attack, asking for more weapons.

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12:15 p.m.

Germany’s foreign minister says two students and a teacher from a school in Berlin died in the Bastille Day attacks on the French Riviera.

Another student was injured and continues to receive treatment.

Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier says “This terrible attack shows that terror is directed against everyone without distinction.”

Eighty-four people were killed when Tunisian Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel drove through crowds watching fireworks on Nice’s famed Promenade del Anglais.

Fifty-nine people are still hospitalized, 29 of them in intensive care.

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12:05 p.m.

The Estonian Foreign Ministry says that two of the 84 people killed in the Nice truck attack were Estonians.

The ministry said it had received confirmation of their deaths late Monday from French officials but it did not identify them or provide any details.

Earlier, the ministry had said that three Estonians were among those injured in the attack.

The Baltic News Agency identified one of the victims as Rickard Kruusberg, age 21, who attended an innovation academy program in Nice. The other victim was a woman who had been on holiday with her husband, daughter and grandchildren, BNS said.

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11:25 a.m.

Italy says five of the 84 dead in the Nice truck attack were Italians, including two couples celebrating a recent retirement.

The Foreign Ministry identified the dead as Maria Grazia Ascoli, 77, and Mario Casati, 90, of Milan; Angelo D’Agostino, 71, and his wife Gianna Muset, 68, both of Voghera; and Carla Gaveglio, 48, of Piasco, in the Piedmont region.

Italian news reports said Ascoli and Casati, along with D’Agostino and Muset, had travelled to Nice together to celebrate D’Agostino’s retirement.

In a statement Tuesday, the Foreign Ministry said French authorities had formalized the identification overnight. It said the families had been notified and that the ministry expressed its solidarity “to the family and friends of the victims of the barbarous attack.”

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10:05 a.m.

Joggers, cyclists and sun-seekers are back on Nice’s famed Riviera coast, a further sign of normal life returning on the Promenade des Anglais where dozens were killed in last week’s Bastille Day truck attack.

Under a blazing sun, there were few visible reminders of the carnage, save for a handful of flags flying at half-staff and a number of armed soldiers patrolling the promenade.

Some of Nice’s beachside restaurants were reopening for business on Tuesday, and the final section of the Promenade des Anglais was set to reopen to traffic following three days of official mourning.

Late Monday evening, mourners formed a human chain to remove candles, flowers and other mementos honouring the victims of the attack, when Tunisian Mohamed Lahouaiyej Bouhlel drove through crowds watching fireworks.

The Associated Press