MORE THAN 100 KILLED IN PARIS
Terror attacks were coordinated in concert hall, near stadium and at least five other popular sites in city. French president closes borders, mobilizes military to ‘neutralize the threats and secure all of the areas.’ Main attack was at concert, but secur
The Paris area reeled Friday night from a shooting rampage, explosions and mass hostage-taking that President Francois Hollande called an unprecedented terrorist attack on France.
Hollande closed the borders and mobilized the military in a national emergency.
French television and news services quoted the police as saying at least 100 people had been killed at a concert hall alone, and dozens more in apparently coordinated attacks outside the country’s main sports stadium and at least five other popular loca-
tions in the city.
The carnage eclipsed the deaths and mayhem that roiled Paris in the Charlie Hebdo massacre and related assaults around Paris less than a year ago.
One of the explosions, which authorities said was a suicide bombing, struck near the country’s main sports stadium where Germany and France were playing a soccer match, forcing a hasty evacuation of Hollande. As the scope of the assaults quickly became clear, he convened an emergency cabinet meeting.
“As I speak, terrorist attacks of an unprecedented scale are taking place in the Paris region,” he said in a nationally televised address, adding, “It’s horrific.”
Hollande said that on his orders the government had “mobilized all the forces we can muster to neutralize the threats and secure all of the areas.” He canceled a planned trip to a G20 economic meeting set to convene this weekend in Turkey.
In Washington, President Barack Obama expressed solidarity and offered aid and condolences.
“Once again, we’ve seen an outrageous attempt to terrorize innocent civilians,” Obama said. “This is an attack not just on Paris, it’s an attack not just on the people of France, but this is an attack on all of humanity and the universal values that we share.”
There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but Twitter erupted with celebratory messages by members and sympathizers of the Islamic State.
“We know who these terrorists are,” Hollande, without elaborating, said in his TV address. “These terrorists want to make us afraid and seize us with fear. ...This is a nation that defends itself.”
The main shooting appeared to have broken out at a popular concert hall, The Bataclan, where the American band the Eagles of Death Metal was playing. A witness quoted by BFM television said he heard rounds of automatic rifle fire and someone shouting “Allahu akbar!”
Another witness who escaped the concert hall told BFM: “When they started shooting we just saw flashes. People got down on the ground right away.”
Two Paris police officials said security forces mounted an assault that killed at least two attackers. One official described “carnage” inside the building, saying the attackers had tossed explosives at the
‘This is an attack not just on Paris, it’s an attack not just on the people of France, but this is an attack on all of humanity and the universal values that we share.’
Barack Obama
U.S. president
hostages. Later, a police official said there were at least 100 dead in the hall.
A police official said 11 people were killed in a Paris restaurant in the 10th arrondissement. Emilio Macchio, from Ravenna, Italy, was at the nearby Carillon bar, having a beer on the sidewalk, when the shooting started. He said he didn’t see any gunmen or victims as he hid, then fled.
“It sounded like fireworks,” he said.
The attacks come as France has heightened security measures ahead of a major global climate conference it is scheduled to host in Paris in two weeks, out of fear of violent protests and potential terrorist attacks.
France has been on edge since deadly attacks by Islamic extremists in January on satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo and a kosher grocery that left 20 dead, including the three attackers.
The country has seen several smaller-scale attacks or attempts since, including an incident on a high-speed train in August in which American travelers and a British man thwarted an attempted attack by a heavily armed man.
France’s military is bombing Islamic State targets in Syria and Iraq and fighting extremists in Africa, and extremist groups have frequently threatened France in the past.
French authorities are particularly concerned about the threat from hundreds of French Islamic radicals who have traveled to Syria and returned home with skills to stage violence.