Hundreds Killed, Injured as Deadly Attacks Rock Paris

Via Almanar

At least 120 people have died in Paris in a wave of coordinated gun and suicide bomb attacks, prompting the French president, François Hollande, to declare a state of emergency and tighten controls on the country’s borders.

In the deadliest terrorist attack on Europe since the 2004 train bombings in Madrid, six venues across Paris were targeted: gunmen opened fire at a rock concert and on patrons in restaurants; and a series of bombs were detonated near the Stade de France, where the national side was playing Germany in an international friendly football match.

Paris attacks

At least eight attackers are dead, seven of them in suicide bombings, but witnesses to one shooting said police told them at least one attacker was still at large.

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.

Many people in the crowd were reportedly held hostage before armed police stormed the venue. Some of those inside the Bataclan theatre told reporters three of the terrorists detonated suicide belts as the French security forces closed in.

Earlier reports suggested up to 157 people had been killed, before the Bataclan death toll was significantly revised down.

In addition to those killed, across the city, a further 200 people were injured, at least 80 of them seriously.

Paris prosecutor François Molins said at least eight attackers had been killed across the city, seven of them in suicide bombings.

However, one witness told the Guardian that officers had warned him at least one of the terrorists had still not been apprehended.