France is reeling from what President François Hollande called “attacks of unprecedented proportions” on the nation’s capital. French media report police sources saying around 100 people were killed at a concert hall, site of a mass hostage-taking, with many more killed in a suicide bombing outside the national stadium and gun attacks at a restaurant and a cafe.
France 24 reports the first of at least six separate, but seemingly coordinated, attacks began just after 10:00 p.m. on Friday. The Guardian reports around 100 people were taken hostage at the Bataclan concert hall in the 11th arrondissement. At least 118 people, many of them young people attending a crowded rock concert at the venue, were killed during a sustained attack by at least two gunmen armed with assault rifles. Survivors said the shooting lasted at least 10 minutes until police ended the siege. Authorities said four gunmen were killed at the concert hall; three were wearing explosive belts.
Witnesses described a scene of utter horror and chaotic carnage inside the packed concert hall, where the attackers shouted “Allahu Akbar”—Arabic for ‘God is great’—before opening fire.
“It looked like a battlefield, there was blood everywhere, there were bodies everywhere,” a trembling Marc Coupris, 57, told the Guardian. “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. Everyone scrabbled to the ground. I was on the ground with a man on top of me and another one beside me up against a wall. We just stayed still like that. At first we kept quiet. I don’t know how long we stayed like that, it seemed like an eternity.”
“I saw my final hour unfurl before me, I thought this was the end. I thought I’m finished, I’m finished,” Coupris continued. “I was terrified. We must all have thought the same. Eventually, when a few gendarmes came in slowly we began to look up and there was blood absolutely everywhere. The police told us to run.”
Two loud explosions were heard 15 minutes into an international soccer match between France and Germany at the Stade de France, the national stadium. Police officials said the explosions occurred simultaneously near two of the entrances and a McDonald’s restaurant. At least four people were killed. French President François Hollande, who was attending the match, was evacuated, but the match played on. It was only after the conclusion of the contest that the scale of the attacks became apparent.
At least 14 people were reported killed in a gun attack at Le Petit Cambodge restaurant in the 10th arrondissement. At least 19 more people were killed in another shooting massacre at La Belle Equipe, an 11th arrondissement restaurant.
“I worked in hospitals, I studied medicine, and I’ve never seen anything like it,” a woman who was near La Belle Equipe told France Inter Radio. “Me and my son ran back to get some help, and literally ran into a number of bodies.” The woman described a scene of “carnage,” with many people lying dead on the floor and many others wounded and screaming.
President Hollande has declared a state of emergency and ordered national borders closed.
“Terrorist attacks of unprecedented proportions are under way in the Paris area,” Hollande said in an address to the nation. “There are dozens killed, there are many injured. It is a horror.” Hollande continued:
“This is a terrible ordeal which once again assails us. We know where it comes from, who these criminals are, who these terrorists are. In these difficult moments, we must—and I’m thinking of the many victims, their families and the injured—show compassion and solidarity. But we must also show unity and calm. Faced with terror, France must be strong, it must be great and the state authorities must be firm. We will be…
What the terrorists want is to scare us and fill us with dread. There is indeed reason to be afraid. There is dread, but in the face of this dread, there is a nation that knows how to defend itself, that knows how to mobilize its forces and, once again, will defeat the terrorists.”
French officials said five attackers have been “neutralized” in what authorities called an ongoing operation.
Friday’s attack dwarfed January’s Islamist terror attacks on the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo and a kosher grocery store, in which 17 people were killed by three assailants. No group has yet claimed responsibility for Friday’s attacks. Agence France-Press reports a witness claims one of the attackers mentioned French military action in Syria, where a coalition led by the United States has been waging an air and special forces war targeting Islamic State militants.
Authorities have warned Paris residents to remain indoors. Police have set up a special emergency hotline for people needing help: 197
