More than 127 people were killed in Paris on Friday after a bomb-strapped band of terrorists unleashed a series of coordinated attacks that included explosions and torrents of gunfire near a soccer stadium, at restaurants and at a packed music hall that saw the worst carnage.
Panic swept the streets of Paris as gunmen and suicide bombers attacked at least six different locations across the French capital, authorities said.
Hostages were held at a popular concert hall, explosions rocked the streets surrounding Stade de France, and gunmen opened fire at cafes and restaurants as diners enjoyed a typical Paris evening in what was the deadliest violence to strike France since World War II.
Eight militants were killed, seven by suicide belts and one shot by police, a source close to the investigation said. Four police officers were killed in the explosions as they raced to free hostages, according to reports.
As fear enveloped the city well into Saturday morning, officials tried to sort out the mayhem. Paris police chief Michel Cadot said one set of attackers was at the stadium and at nearly the same time a second group attacked within the city. Cadot said all the attackers are believed dead, although authorities were hunting for any possible accomplices.
NEARLY 90 KILLED AT PARIS CONCERT HALL; 3 ATTACKERS DEAD
French President Francois Hollande quickly declared a state of emergency following the bloody attacks. He called for quick action including:
– Mobilization of more than 1,500 soldiers to Paris.
– Cancellation of a planned trip to this weekend’s G-20 summit in Turkey, which was to focus in large part on growing fears of terrorism carried out by Islamic extremists.
– Closing of the country’s borders.
– Shuttering of all metro stations in Paris, and all schools and universities in the region on Saturday.
Hollande vowed to find those responsible for the carnage.
“To all those who have seen these awful things, I want to say we are going to lead a war which will be pitiless,” Hollande vowed. “Because when terrorists are capable of committing such atrocities they must be certain that they are facing a determined France, a united France, a France that is together and does not let itself be moved, even if today we express infinite sorrow.”
The terror began with a blast outside the soccer stadium, just north of Paris.
Roughly 70,000 spectators were packed into the stadium watching France play Germanywhen the crack of the explosion split the air. The explosion was loud enough to be heard inside the stadium, over the roaring of the fans, video of the match shows.
Hollande, who attended the game, was quickly ushered out of the stadium.
At least four people were killed in the explosions. A police union official said there were two suicide attacks and a bombing.
Soon, the violence spread through the city.
Around 100 people were held hostage inside the Bataclan concert hall, watching California band Eagles of Death Metal as attackers opened fire on the crowd, authorities said. The popular nightspot was turned into a deathtrap after attackers hurled explosives at their captives.
Reports put the number of dead at the concert at nearly 90.
“It was carnage,” Marc Coupris, 57, still shaking after being freed from the venue, told the Guardian. “It looked like a battlefield, there was blood everywhere, there were bodies everywhere. I was at the far side of the hall when shooting began. There seemed to be at least two gunmen. They shot from the balcony.”
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Julien Pearce was able to escape and told CNN of 10 minutes of uninterrupted gunfire after the black-clothed terrorists took over the theater, sending the crowd to the ground. He said one gunman who was unmasked was no older than 25.
As he escaped, Pearce said he saw 20 to 25 dead bodies strewn across the floor.
Anti-terrorist police could be seen flooding into the area, as well as soldiers.
As police stormed the building , three attackers blew themselves up and one was shot by police, officials said.
Earlier, two terrorists opened fire at Le Carillon bar, while another shot up the Cambodge restaurant in the city’s 10th Arrondissement, according to French media.
Kalashnikov-wielding gunmen appeared to flood the streets of the Bastille area of the city, while grenade blasts were also heard.
It is thought that at least 35 died in the restaurant shootings, while gunfire was also heard in other bars around the French capital.
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The shootings happened along Rue de la Fontaine au roi, Rue de Charonne and Rue Voltaire and Rue Albert , Le Figaro reported.
White sheets were tossed from windows and laid over bodies.
Three terrorists died at the stadium and a fourth was killed in a street in Paris.
During a midnight address to France, Hollande took the drastic step of closing the country’s borders and declared a state of emergency, “which means certain places will be closed and travel may be banned.”
The state of emergency is the first declared in France since the 2005 riots across suburban housing estates. A general curfew was declared — the first time in France since 1944.
President Obama condemned the attacks, calling them an “outrageous attempt to terrorize innocent civilians” as he vowed to give France any support needed.
“This is a heartbreaking situation,” Obama said from the White House. “We’re going to do whatever it takes to work with the French people and with nations around the world to bring these terrorists to justice, and to go after any terrorist networks that go after our people.”
During a call later Friday evening, Obama and Hollande pledged to work “to defeat the scourge of terrorism,” the White House said.
British Prime Minister David Cameron said he was “shocked by events in Paris tonight.”
“Our thoughts and prayers are with the French people,” he said in a statement. “We will do whatever we can to help.”
There were no confirmed claims of responsibility, but the attacks come just a day after the United States announced a drone strike in Syria that likely killed Jihadi John, the Islamic State’s British-accented executioner.
ISIS sympathizers took to social media to celebrate the horrific killings.
“What we’re doing tonight is we’re applying an enhanced counter-terrorism overlay,” said John Miller, the NYPD’s deputy commissioner of intelligence and counterterrorism. “That means we have no credible, specific intelligence of any threat toward the city, but out of an abundance of caution we provide deterrents, but also reassurances to the public.”
Cops late Friday began beefing up patrols at tourist areas, including Times Square, Penn Station and Barclays Center.
Both Mayor de Blasio and Gov. Cuomo issued statements condemning the attacks and vowing support and continued vigilance for any potential attacks in New York.
“We are shocked by this new manifestation of maddening, terrorist violence and hatred,” a Vatican spokesman said.
The attacks were carried out not far from the headquarters of the Charlie Hebdo newspaper, where 12 people were shot dead in January in an attack carried out by radicalized Islamic extremist brothers.
Four Jewish shoppers were also murdered in the same set of attacks inside a kosher supermarket in nearby Vincennes.
The French capital has been on a high state of alert ever since, with security services warning that another attack was always likely.
In August, a trio of Americans were able to tackle and detain a gunman before he carried out an attack on a train headed for Paris from Amsterdam.
Friday’s attack is already the deadliest in modern French history.
At Bar Tabac in Brooklyn, Thomas Caron, 40, watched in horror as the carnage unfolded in his home country.
“I’m still waiting to hear from friends and family back home,” Caron said. “I can’t imagine what the victims of the attacks are going through. It reminds me of 9/11. I was in Paris, worried about friends in New York then. And now I’m in New York worrying about loved ones in Paris. It’s a terrible deja vu.”
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With Rocco Parascandola
