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Dozens of people have been killed, including children, after a lorry ploughed into a large crowd watching a fireworks display marking the end of the French national holiday for Bastille Day.
The driver also fired shots, before being killed by police. This is what we know so far about what happened.
Who is the attacker?
The driver of the lorry has been identified by officials as Mohamed Lahouaiej-Bouhlel, a 31-year-old man of Franco-Tunisian origin.
Paris prosecutor Francois Molins says Lahouaiej-Bouhlel was divorced with three children. His ex-wife was taken into custody on Friday morning along with four other people believed to be linked to him. A flat he lived in near Nice train station was searched by police on Friday morning.
Image copyright AFP
Image caption Police are examining documents taken from a flat in Nice
Mr Molins said Lahouaiej-Bouhlel was "totally unknown" to security services, and the investigations are continuing into whether Lahouaiej-Bouhlel acted alone.
He is said to have hired the lorry from a rental company in Saint-Laurent-du-Var, a town to the west of Nice, on 11 July, and had been due to return it on 13 July.
Police said that, at the time of the attack, Lahouaiej-Bouhlel was in possession of an automatic pistol, bullets, a fake automatic pistol and two replica assault rifles (a Kalashnikov and an M16), an empty grenade. Also in the lorry with him were a driving licence and a bank card.
Who were the victims?
At least 84 people were killed, including 10 children and teenagers.
A total of 303 people were taken into hospital following the attacks, the French health department confirmed on Saturday. Of those, 121 remain in hospital, 30 of whom are children, and 26 people are still in intensive care - including five children.
In the hours after the attacks, worried relatives posted images on social media of the missing.
Among the dead was Fatima Charrihi, whose son said she was the first to die.
Another victim, according to reports, was the assistant head of the Nice border police, Jean-Marc Leclerc.
An American 11-year-old boy, Brodie Copeland, and his father, Sean, were also killed. They had been on holiday in Nice.
Three people on a school trip from Germany were unaccounted for.
Who was behind the attack?
French security officials are still assessing whether the driver of a truck was working alone or in a group.
So-called Islamic State later claimed one of its followers carried out the attack.
A news agency linked to the group, Amaq Agency, said: "He did the attack in response to calls to target the citizens of the coalition that is fighting the Islamic State."
Officials said it bore the hallmark of a terrorist organisation.
President Hollande said on Friday that it was "an attack whose terrorist nature cannot be denied".
Mr Molins said the attack was "in line with the constant calls to kill" from militant Islamist groups, and the investigation would be seek to find out whether Lahouaiej-Bouhlel had ties to Islamist militants.
French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said Lahouaiej-Bouhlel seemed to have been "radicalised very quickly".
Anti-terrorist prosecutors in Paris have launched an inquiry for murder and attempted murder as part of an organised terrorist strike.
Earlier this week, France's DGSI internal security organisation warned of the danger of further attacks from Islamist militants with "booby-trapped vehicles and bombs".
The so-called Islamic State has targeted France on several occasions since January 2015.
Only hours before the Nice attack, President Hollande had announced that France's state of emergency would be removed later this month. After the attack in Nice he announced it was being extended.
What happened on the promenade?
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Media captionAttack in Nice: Fly-through video of how events unfolded
The terror began a little after 22:30 (20:30 GMT) on Thursday, shortly after thousands of people had watched a firework display on the seafront in Nice, at the end of a day marking France's national holiday, Bastille Day.
There had been a mood of celebration and the crowd had enjoyed an air force display. Families strolled along the city's renowned Promenade des Anglais.
A large white lorry was seen driving erratically a couple of streets away from the seafront promenade. "He was speeding up, braking, speeding up again and braking again. We thought it was weird," said Laicia Baroi. She described how the lorry then turned on to the promenade heading south-west towards the airport.
But it was not for another half hour before the attack began. A German journalist saw events unfold from a hotel balcony, as the lorry doubled back from the direction of the airport, breaching the barriers erected on the promenade opposite the Lenval children's hospital.
"He was driving really slowly, that's what was astonishing," said Richard Gutjahr, who described seeing the lorry being tailed by a motorcyclist. "The motorcyclist tried to overtake him and even tried opening the lorry driver's door," he told AFP news agency. At that point the motorcyclist fell under the wheels of the lorry.
When two police officers opened fire on the lorry, the driver accelerated and careered at full speed towards the crowd.
The vehicle mounted the kerb then went back on the road, zigzagging for up to 2km (1.25 miles), as the driver deliberately drove into people.
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Media captionNice attack: Footage of final gun battle
A local MP spoke of hundreds of people being run over. Others scrambled to safety, on to the beach or into nearby hotels.
"I was opposite the Palais de la Mediterranee [hotel] when I saw a lorry at high speed running over people. I saw it with my own eyes, people tried to stop it," said one witness.
Police finally managed to bring the lorry to a halt near the luxury hotel.
Paris Prosecutor Francois Molins says the driver fired repeatedly on three policemen, who returned fire and pursued him for hundreds of metres.
Mobile phone footage appeared to show the moment the driver was shot.
Images from the scene showed the windscreen and front of the lorry raked with bullets. Interior ministry officials later confirmed that the attacker had been "neutralised".
How have the authorities reacted?
It soon became clear that many people had died, although the full scale of the disaster was unclear. The dead and injured were taken to the local Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Nice.
The hospital launched its crisis mode for exceptional health situations and put out an emergency number for families: 00 33 (0)4 93 72 22 2200 33 (0)4 93 72 22 22.
Image copyright Twitter
Image caption The presidency said during the night that the president and prime minister had convened an interministerial crisis meeting
In the area around Nice, the anti-terror alert was raised to its highest level.
President Francois Hollande was flown back to Paris from a visit to Avignon, joining Prime Minister Manuel Valls in a crisis room. Mr Valls declared three days of mourning which started on Saturday.
The pair then travelled to Nice, where the interior and health ministers were already involved in crisis meetings with local officials.
On Saturday, Mr Hollande met his defence and security chiefs and cabinet ministers.
Then later, Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve called on "patriotic citizens" to become reservists to boost security across the country.
He also reiterated a pledge made by Mr Hollande on Friday to call up France's current squad of reservists, which total some 12,000 volunteers.
he two leaders pledged to work together, and with nations around the world, to defeat the scourge of terrorism," the statement added.
British Prime Minister David Cameron said he was "shocked" after at least 140 people were reported killed in multiple attacks in Paris, including one near the Stade de France sports stadium.
"I am shocked by events in Paris tonight," Cameron tweeted. "Our thoughts and prayers are with the French people. We will do whatever we can to help."
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi also assured solidarity with France as he condemned the terrorist attacks. A statement from the President’s office said that Egypt supports the efforts of international community in fighting terrorism that kills innocent people without differentiation across the world and doesn't know any limits or religions.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel also said she was shocked by the Paris attacks. In a statement, she said “My thoughts in these hours are with the victims of these apparently terrorist attacks, their relatives, and all people in Paris.” She also said that her government was in touch with France and has expressed the sympathy and solidarity of the people in Germany.”
In India, leaders across the political spectrum condemned the attacks.
Congress president Sonia Gandhi and vice president Rahul Gandhi on Saturday expressed deep shock and anguish on the deadly terror attack in Paris.
Calling it "mindless barbarism devoid of any values", Sonia Gandhi said nothing can justify such violence, according to a Congress party tweet.
Rahul Gandhi added: "My thoughts and prayers are with the people of France in this hour of grief and anguish. Terror cannot defeat freedom and liberty. It will only strengthen our resolve to fight against this senseless violence."
Earlier, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is in the UK, also spoke out against the attacks, saying the "news from Paris is anguishing and dreadful".
"News from Paris is anguishing & dreadful. Prayers with families of the deceased. We are united with people ofFrance in this tragic hour," Modi tweeted soon after the attacks took place.
Indian President Pranab Mukherjee also tweeted that “India stands firmly by France, my heart goes out its people”, even as he “strongly condemned the attacks.
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