Kerry, on private travel to Nice, to visit American hurt in attack

By Reuters

U.S. Secretary of State Kerry speaks at a press briefing after a "Meeting of the Ministers of the Global Coalition to Counter ISIL: Joint Plenary Session" in Washington.

PARIS (Reuters) – U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is in Nice on Saturday “on private business” and will visit an American still hospitalized after a truck driver deliberately plowed into a crowd in the city during Bastille Day celebrations last week.

Three U.S. citizens were among the 84 killed in the attack, in which Tunisian delivery man Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel drove a 19-tonne truck along a packed sea-front promenade before police shot him dead.

“Secretary Kerry is in Nice today on private business,” a senior State Department said in a statement. “While there, he will visit with an American injured in last week’s terrorist attack who is recovering in a local hospital.”

Kerry arrived in Paris on Friday for talks with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas but the meeting was canceled after Abbas’ brother died.

(Reporting by Lesley Wroughton; editing by Susan Thomas)