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Rihanna In Nice During Bastille Day Terror Attack, Cancels Concert

By Lawrence Arboleda
Published on: 20:08 PST, Jul 14, 2016

Rihanna was in Nice, France when the Bastille Day Terror Attack claimed 84 lives and injured more than 100 people on Thursday, New York Daily reports. A rep for the “Work” singer confirmed to Billboard that “she’s safe.”

The 28-year-old singer was scheduled to perform Friday night at the Allianz Stadium as part of the European leg of her Anti World Tour. After France, Rihanna is set to perform in Frankfurt, Germany on Sunday.

Christian Estrosi, president of the PACA region of France and former mayor of Nice, took to Twitter to confirm the reports that Rihanna’s concert and the Nice Jazz Festival had been cancelled.

Rihanna announced the cancellation of her France concert via Instagram, sharing a heart-shaped image of the French flag.

“Due to the tragic events in #Nice, my concert scheduled for tomorrow July 15 at Allianz Stadium will not be going ahead as planned. Our thoughts are with the victims and their families,” Rihanna captioned her post.

Rihanna had just finished performing in Milan, Italy on Wednesday night when she made the trip to the seaside town of France. As previously reported by TMZ, the team was trying to get Rihanna out of the city as soon as the attack was reported on the news.

Rihanna’s personal chef Debbie Solomon also took to Instagram to write about the horrific incident in Nice. The message itself reveals that Rihanna and her team holed up in a hotel in the seaside city in the wake of the tragedy.

“After a beautiful day in Nice. It ends with tragedy right in front of our hotel. No one can either get in or out. And it’s being reported that they’re hostages. I am happy everyone in our group is safe and accounted for but my heart goes out to all the families who now have to deal with all the heartache.”

On Thursday, a truck plowed through a crowd of revelers who had gathered to enjoy the fireworks in the French resort city. The revelers gathered on the sidewalk to celebrate Bastille Day, a French national holiday commemorating the storming of the Bastille on July 14, 1789. According to the police, 84 people were killed and more than a hundred were injured. The driver of the truck was fatally shot by the police to avoid more casualties.

US President Obama made an official statement to express support for those who were affected by the terror attack, CBSNews reports.

“Our thoughts and prayers are with the families and other loved ones of those killed, and we wish a full recovery for the many wounded,” Obama said. “We stand in solidarity and partnership with France, our oldest ally, as they respond to and recover from this attack.”

According to eyewitnesses and officials, the driver of the huge truck drove over a mile before plowing through the crowd gathered at the famed Promenade des Anglais, as reported by Telegraph. Before long, the driver got out of the truck to riddle the crowd with bullets.

A gunfire exchange between the driver and the police ensued before the former was shot dead, according to eyewitnesses.

In the wake of the gun battle, guns and grenade were discovered inside the truck. A second man is reportedly on the run.

In his official statement, French president Francois Hollande declared the tragedy a terrorist attack, saying that all of France is “under the threat of Islamic terrorism.”

“So in these circumstances we must show absolute vigilance and a determination without end,” Francois added.

In response to the Bastille Day attack, the French president extended the country’s State of Emergency, which was scheduled to end on July 26, for another three months. France was declared under a State of Emergency after Islamic State attacks in Paris in November left 130 people dead.

[Photo by Christopher Polk/Getty Images]

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