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Paris terror attacks: Islamic State says France is 'top target' for actions in Syria Paris terror attacks: Islamic State says France is 'key target' for actions in Syria
(about 1 hour later)
The French president, François Hollande, has said a wave of gun attacks and suicide bombings that killed more than 120 people across Paris were orchestrated as an “act of war” by Islamic State. Islamic State has claimed responsibility for a deadly wave of bombings and shootings across Paris that has left nearly 130 people dead and which the French president, François Hollande, denounced as an “act of war”.
The terror group responded less than an hour later, claiming responsibility for Friday’s attacks and saying they were designed to show France it would remain a “top target” as long as it continued its policies in Syria. Paris police reported that at least 128 people had been killed and 180 more injured – including 80 seriously – in the six attacks, the deadliest in Europe since the 2004 Madrid railway bombings. Eight militants also died.
A statement purportedly released by Isis said its fighters strapped with suicide bombing belts and carrying machine guns carried out the attacks in various locations in the heart of the French capital following careful organisation. Related: Paris attacks: what we know so far
The statement said: “France and those who follow her voice must know that they remain the main target of Islamic State and that they will continue to smell the odour of death for having led the crusade, for having dared to insult our prophet, for having boasted of fighting Islam in France and striking Muslims in the caliphate with their planes.” The Islamist terror group said it had dispatched jihadis wearing suicide bomb belts and carrying machine guns around the French capital on Friday night in a coordinated series of attacks intended to show France would remain one of its main targets as long as its present policies continued.
Hollande in turn described the deadliest terrorist attack on Europe since the 2004 train bombings in Madrid as a “cowardly act of war”, adding that France would defend itself. “France and those who follow her voice must know that they remain the main target of Islamic State and that they will continue to smell the odour of death for having led the crusade, for having dared to insult our prophet, for having boasted of fighting Islam in France and striking Muslims in the caliphate with their planes,” the group said in a statement.
Six sites in the French capital were targeted on Friday evening; gunmen opened fire at a rock concert and on customers in restaurants, and a series of bombs were detonated near the Stade de France, where the national football team was playing Germany in an international friendly. At least eight attackers are dead, seven of them in suicide bombings. Witnesses to one shooting said police had told them at least one attacker was still at large. Hollande described the attacks as “cowardly” and “an act of war” that had been carefully “prepared, organised and planned from outside the country by Islamic State, but with help from inside. “Faced with war, the country must take appropriate action,” the president said. He did not say what form that action might take.
These were attacks “against France, against the values that we defend everywhere in the world, against what we are: a free country that means something to the whole planet,” Hollande said, calling for unity and courage and saying he would address an extraordinary meeting of parliament on Monday.
In the bloodiest incident, 87 people were reported killed inside the Bataclan concert venue in the 11th arrondissement, when gunmen opened fire on the crowd during a concert by US rock group Eagles of Death Metal. France would observe three days of official mourning, the president said. He said that in the meantime: ”all measures to protect our compatriots and our territory are being taken within the framework of the state of emergency” that has now been declared.
Many people in the crowd were reportedly held hostage until armed police stormed the venue. Some of those inside the Bataclan told reporters three of the attackers detonated suicide belts as the French security forces closed in.
Video footage shot from outside the venue showed dead bodies in the street, dozens of people running from the entrance and survivors dragging the injured to safety. Witnesses described the scene inside the venue as a “bloodbath”.
Related: Paris attack witness: 'he was dressed in black, professional, shooting and killing'Related: Paris attack witness: 'he was dressed in black, professional, shooting and killing'
Police confirmed that six separate attacks had taken place across Paris in little over two hours. There were casualties at the following locations: Two police officers told French media a Syrian passport was found on the body of one of the suicide bombers, but no identities or nationalities have been released officially. No arrests had been made by Saturday morning and it was not clear if any suspected gunmen were still on the loose. Police said they were were screening hours of CCTV footage from the six locations where the attacks took place.
Earlier reports suggested that as many as 157 people had been killed, before the Bataclan death toll was revised down significantly. The latest death toll from French prosecutors stands at 128. A further 200 people were injured, at least 99 of them seriously. An extra 1,500 soldiers were mobilised to reinforce police in Paris, Hollande’s office said. All sports events were cancelled on Saturday in the capital, while access to public facilities such as museums and swimming pools was restricted and several metro stationd remained closed.
In a statement in Paris on Saturday morning, Hollande said: “I pay homage to the country’s defenders who fought the terrorists yesterday. Everyone has given their utmost and will be putting in their best efforts in the day to come.” In southern Germany, the Bavarian state premier, Horst Seehofer, said there was “reason to believe” that a man arrested last week during a routine motorway check with ”many machine guns, revolvers and explosives” in his car might possibly be linked to the attacks.
He called the attacks “cowardly” and said every measure would be taken to fight what he called the terrorist threat. “In this most serious and uncertain time, I call for unity and courage. Even if France is wounded, she will rise.” He put the death toll at 127. Related: France more active than rest of the west in tackling Syria
The Paris prosecutor, François Molins, said at least eight attackers had been killed across the city, seven of them in suicide bombings. One witness told the Guardian that officers had told him at least one of the attackers was still at large. Islamic State also released an undated video on Saturday calling on Muslims to continue attacking France. Its foreign media arm, Al-Hayat Media Centre, filmed a number of militants – apparently French citizens – sitting cross-legged in an unidentified location and burning their passports.
Mark Colclough, a British-Danish psychotherapist, was standing near a cafe on the Rue de la Fointaine au Roi in the 11th arrondissement when a gunman opened fire on patrons inside. “As long as you keep bombing you will not live in peace. You will even fear travelling to the market,” one of the militants, identified as “Abu Maryam the Frenchman”, told the camera. Addressing his fellow jihadis, he added: “Indeed, you have been ordered to fight the infidel wherever you find him – what are you waiting for? There are weapons and cars available and targets ready to be hit.”
“He was standing in a shooting position. He had his right leg forward and he was standing with his left leg back. He was holding up to his left shoulder a long automatic machine gun. I saw it had a magazine beneath it.” The mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, said the city had been targeted because as a city “strengthened by its diversity”, it was “unbearable for fanatics ... The message we want to give them is that we will be stronger than those who wish to reduce us to silence.”
Colclough said the man was left-handed and shooting in short bursts. “It was fully intentional, professional bursts of three or four shots. Everything he was wearing was tight, either boots or shoes and the trousers were tight, the jumper he was wearing was tight, no zippers or collars. Everything was black. As Parisians queued to give blood for the wounded victims, a Muslim community leader, Nadir Kahia, warned that he feared a “tsunami of hatred” against Muslims and residents of the capital’s poorer districts in the wake of the attacks.
“If you think of what a combat soldier looks like, that is it – just without the webbing. Just a man in military uniform, black jumper, black trousers, black shoes or boots and a machine-gun.” The carefully orchestrated series of attacks took place at the Stade de France stadium north of Paris, and at a packed concert hall and several cafes and restaurants in the capital’s north-eastern 10th and 11th arrondissements.
Colclough said police had told him the killer he shad seen had not been caught. “We were taken to the police station to give a witness statement. The gunman we saw has not been apprehended. They confirmed that on the way out. We asked if it was safe to walk home and they said definitely not.” They came despite France – one of the founding members of the US-led coalition carrying out air strikes against Islamic State positions in Iraq and Syria – being on a high state of alert for possible terrorist attacks in the runup to a global climate conference later this month.
Paris authorities told people to stay indoors if possible and closed the Métro system. The deadliest assault was at the Bataclan theatre, a popular concert hall a few hundred metres from the offices of Charlie Hebdo, the satirical magazine hit along with a Jewish supermarket by Islamist militants in January during a three-day attack that left 20 people dead.
The attacks come 10 months after 20 people were killed during attacks by Islamist gunmen on the offices of the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, located close to the Bataclan theatre, and at a kosher supermarket in Paris. Witnesses said four men marched into the venue, where more than 1,000 people had gathered to hear the Californian rock band Eagles of Death Metal, armed with Kalashnikov rifles and shouting “Allahu akbar”. At least 82 people lost their lives in the ensuing carnage, while dozens more were temporarily taken hostage until armed riot police stormed the building.
Hollande, who was attending the friendly match against Germany at the Stade de France at the time of Friday night’s attacks, cancelled plans to attend this weekend’s G20 summit in Turkey. In a TV address to the nation, he declared a state of emergency, and closed the country’s borders. “They didn’t stop firing. There was blood everywhere, corpses everywhere. Everyone was trying to flee,” said Pierre Janaszak, a radio presenter who was at the concert. Other survivors said three of the attackers detonated their suicide belts as the security forces burst in.
The events brought immediate international condemnation, with Barack Obama calling it “an attack on all of humanity and the universal values we share”. Video footage shot from outside the venue showed bodies lying in the street, dozens of people running away from the entrance and survivors pulling the injured to safety. One witness described the scene as a “bloodbath”.
The US president said he did not want to speculate on who might have carried out the attacks, but said his country was ready to help “our oldest ally”. He said: “Those who think they can terrorise France or their values are wrong. Liberté, égalité and fraternité are values that we share, and they are going to endure far beyond any act of terrorism.” Outside the Stade de France, where the French national football team was playing Germany, a number of bombs were detonated and Hollande, who was attending the match, was evacuated by his security guards to the interior ministry. It was not yet clear how many people died in that attack.
The German chancellor, Angela Merkel, said she was “deeply shaken by the news and pictures” from Paris. The other shootings were at bars and restaurants on the Boulevard de Charonne, where 18 people reportedly lost their lives; Boulevard Voltaire, where one person died; Rue de la Fontaine-au-Roi, where five were killed; and Rue Alibert, where 14 were shot dead.
The British prime minister, David Cameron, who is still expected to travel to the G20 summit, said he was shocked by the events. “Our thoughts and prayers are with the French people. We will do whatever we can to help,” he said. Mark Colclough, a British-Danish psychotherapist, was on the Rue de la Fointaine au Roi in the 11th arrondissement when a gunman opened fire on patrons inside. “He was standing in a shooting position,” Colclough said.
Other world leaders, including many arriving in Vienna for peace talks on Syria, also condemned the attacks. Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister called them “heinous”. “He had his right leg forward and he was standing with his left leg back. He was holding up to his left shoulder a long automatic machine gun. It was fully intentional, professional bursts of three or four shots. Everything he was wearing was tight, no zippers or collars. Everything was toned black. A man in military uniform, black jumper, black trousers, black shoes or boots and a machine-gun.”
“I want to express our condolences to the government and people of France for the heinous terrorist attacks that took place yesterday, which are in violation and contravention of all ethics, morals and religions,” Adel al-Jubeir said. On Saturday, a desperate social media search was under way to identify victims, with few details about their identities yet confirmed. A number of those killed were expected to be from other countries and the missing included children as young as 12.
“The kingdom of Saudi Arabia has long called for more intensified international efforts to combat the scourge of terrorism in all its forms and shapes.” The slaughter brought immediate international condemnation, with Barack Obama calling it “an attack on all of humanity and the universal values we share”. The German chancellor, Angela Merkel, said she was “deeply shaken”.
Speaking from Moscow, the Russian prime minister, Dmitry Medvedev, said Russia shared “the sadness and the pain of the French people”. “Terrorist crimes are not and cannot be justified. The Paris tragedy requires of us all to unite in the fight against extremism, to bring a strong answer to terrorists’ actions,” he said. David Cameron said the UK “must be prepared for a number of British casualties” from the Paris atrocity and condemned the “brutal and callous murderers”. The Russian prime minister, Dmitry Medvedev, said his country “shared the sadness and the pain of the French people”. Terrorist crimes “cannot be justified”, he said: “The Paris tragedy requires of us all to unite in the fight against extremism, to bring a strong answer to terrorists’ actions.”
At the Bataclan tconcert hall, concertgoer Julien Pearce said he had seen two or three men armed with Kalashnikov-type rifles burst in midway through the event and “shoot blindly at the crowd” for several minutes. Pope Francis also condemned the killings as unjustifiable and ”inhuman” acts that left him shaken and pained. “There is no justification for these things,” he told a Catholic TV station.
“Everyone was running in all directions,” he said. “It was a stampede and I was trampled on. I saw a lot of people hit by bullets. The gunmen had loads of time to reload at least three times. They weren’t masked. They knew what they were doing. They were very young.” The attacks follow a narrowly averted disaster in August, when an Islamist gunman was overpowered on a packed high-speed TGV train in northern France.
As the massacre unfolded inside, hundreds of officers carrying machine-guns surrounded the building before storming it.
Marc Coupris, 57, still shaking after being freed from the Bataclan theatre, said: “It was carnage. It looked like a battlefield. There was blood everywhere, there were bodies everywhere. I was at the far side of the hall when the 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.”
A man running down the street from the venue told reporters: “It was horrible. There were so many corpses. I just can’t talk about it.”
The French television station BFMTV said the gunmen who attacked the concert hall had shouted “This is for Syria” before opening fire.