Paris Attacks Kill More Than 100, Police Say; Border Controls Tightened
PARIS — The Paris area reeled Friday night from a shooting rampage, explosions and mass hostage-taking that President François Hollande
called an unprecedented terrorist attack on France. He announced
sharply increased border controls and mobilized the military in a
national emergency.
French
television and news services quoted the police as saying around 100
people had been killed at a concert venue where hostages had been taken
in a two-hour standoff with the police, and perhaps many more killed in
apparently coordinated attacks outside the country’s main sports stadium
and at least five other popular locations in the city. But estimates on
the total number of dead varied widely in the confusion.
Witnesses
on French television said the scene at the concert hall, which can seat
as many as 1,500 people, was a massacre. Ambulances were seen racing
back and forth in the area into the early hours of Saturday morning.
Television reports said at least two assailants at the concert hall were killed as police assaulted the building.
Scene of Deadly Attacks in Paris
Police in Paris confirmed on Friday that several people were killed in multiple acts of violence in and around the city.
Publish Date November 13, 2015.
Photo by Thibault Camus/Associated Press.
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The
casualties eclipsed the deaths and mayhem that roiled Paris in the
Charlie Hebdo massacre and related assaults around the French capital by
Islamic militant extremists less than a year ago.
An
explosion near the sports stadium, which French news services said may
have been a suicide bombing, came as Germany and France were playing a
soccer match, forcing a hasty evacuation of Mr. Hollande. As the scope
of the assaults quickly became clear, he convened an emergency cabinet
meeting and announced that France was placing severe restrictions on its
border crossings.
“As
I speak, terrorist attacks of an unprecedented scale are taking place
in the Paris region,” he said in a nationally televised address. “There
are several dozen dead, lots more wounded, it’s horrific.”
Mr.
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.”
President
Obama in Washington came to the White House Briefing room to express
solidarity and offer aid and condolences. “Once again, we’ve seen an
outrageous attempt to terrorize innocent civilians,” he 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,
the extremist group based in Syria and Iraq that is under assault by
major powers including the United States, France and Russia.
What Happened at Each Location
The
main shooting appeared to have broken out at a popular music venue, The
Bataclan, where the American band Eagles of Death Metal was among those
playing, and French news services said as many as 100 hostages may have
been taken there — many of whom apparently were killed later. Some
accounts said grenades had been lobbed inside the music hall.
A
witness quoted by BFM television said he heard rounds of automatic
rifle fire and someone shouting “Allahu akbar!” at The Bataclan.
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.”
The police ordered bystanders in the that area to get off the streets as officers mobilized, French television reported.
Other
French news media reported that Kalashnikov rifles had been involved in
the shootings — a favored weapon of militants who have attacked targets
in France — and that many rounds had been fired.
Police sirens sounded throughout central Paris on Friday night.
President Obama called the attacks “an outrageous attempt to terrorize civilians.”
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS on Publish Date November 13, 2015.
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Despite
the increased border security, air travel in and out of Paris appeared
to be unaffected. Officials at Charles de Gaulle confirmed that flights
were not suspended, although security had been heightened significantly.
Both departing and arriving passengers and baggage were being screened
thoroughly.
Germany’s
Interior Minister, Thomas de Maizière, said early Saturday that he had
offered to send military assistance to France if requested.
“I
am in close contact with my French colleague and have offered
assistance through German special forces,” Mr. de Maizière said in a
statement.
Loretta
E. Lynch, the United States attorney general, also offered help. “We
stand in solidarity with France, as it has stood with us so often in the
past,” she said in a statement. “This is a devastating attack on our
shared values and we at the Department of Justice will do everything
within our power to assist and work in partnership with our French law
enforcement colleagues.”
American
and European counterterrorism officials were reviewing wiretaps and
other electronic surveillance records, but a senior American security
official said there was no immediate indication that there had been
suspicious chatter or other warning signs ahead of the attack.
Unlike
the attacks against Charlie Hebdo and a kosher supermarket in January,
terrorism experts said the targets of the Friday attacks had no apparent
rationale. Instead, assailants appeared to strike at random in hip
neighborhoods on a Friday night when many people would be starting to
enjoy the weekend.
“It’s
a Friday night and there’s a lot of people out, a lot of tourists out,”
said a senior European counterterrorism official. “If you want maximum
exposure you do it like this, in the dark when it’s scarier and more
difficult for police to act.”
