A series of seemingly coordinated attacks have rocked the French capital with at least 35 killed and reports suggesting that there could be another 100, or more, being taken hostage.
Suicide bombers and machine gun attacks
Early reports are claiming that two bombs were detonated in the capital including one near the Stade de France, soccer stadium where the French and German national teams were playing a “friendly.” Following these attacks, it will hardly go down in history as a “friendly” night in the City of Light. The bombing near the stadium forced the evacuation of France’s president Francois Hollande.
“There are lots of dead people,” a witness said. “It’s pretty horrific to be honest. I was at the back of the bar. I couldn’t see anything. I heard gunshots. People dropped to the ground. We put a table over our heads to protect us.”
In a brief statement, Hollande said that “unprecedented terrorist attacks were underway.” In the same statement, and for the first time in decades, he declared a nationwide state of emergency and also ordered all of France’s borders closed.
“It is a terrible trauma for France,” Hollande said in his televised address. “Once again we are under attack.”
“The terrorists want to scare us and instill fear,” he said. “There are reasons to be afraid, but the nation knows how to defend itself and mobilize its forces and how to defeat the terrorists.”
The other attacks and the hostages
Since this writing began, numerous news sources have increased the death toll to well over 50 and fears are that it will continue to rise depending on the hostage situation and the extent of the injures to many of the victims in these attacks.
In an attack that may have caused as many as 15 deaths, gunmen with automatic weapons entered a Paris restaurant in the 10th arrondissement and opened fire on unsuspecting diners.
The French newspaper Liberation quotes a witness as saying two armed men got out of a parked car and opened fire on the restaurant’s patrons and staff before getting back into the car and continued firing.
Vincent Berthezene, a production assistant for France2 TV tweeted that shots from a Kalashnikov were fired from a car. “Bodies are on the ground,” he writes.
Emilioi Macchio, from Ravenna, Italy, was at the Carillon bar near the restaurant that was attacked having a beer when the gunfire erupted.
Shortly after the attack on the restaurant another bloodbath began at the Bataclan concert hall, where the hostages were taken. One official, who insisted on remaining anonymous, claimed there are at least 100 hostages presently inside the theater with others suggesting far fewer hostages. Early reports have the death count at the concert over 25.
The California rock group Eagles of Death Metal were playing at the time.
Obama makes a statement after the Paris attacks
Obama took to the airwaves to express his condolences as well as strongly declare the attacks a tragedy while assuring France that the United States will help in any way it can.
”Once again we’ve seen an outrageous attempt to terrorize innocent civilians,” he said, “This is an attack not just on Paris and not just on people of France, but this is an attack on all of humanity and the universal values that we share.”
He said that the United States will work with nations all over the world “to bring these terrorists to justice, and to go after any terrorist networks that go after our people.”
“The French people have stood shoulder to shoulder with the United States time and again,” he said. “And we want to be very clear that we stand together with them in the fight against terrorism and extremism.”
“The French people have stood shoulder to shoulder with the United States time and again,” he said. “And we want to be very clear that we stand together with them in the fight against terrorism and extremism.”
“Those are values that we share,” Obama said as he finished his statement. “And those values are going to endure far beyond any act of terrorism or the hateful vision of those who perpetrated the crimes this evening.”
Second major attacks on Paris in under a year’s time
Terror struck the European capital in January when to radical Islamic gunmen stormed into the offices of the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo killing 12 and wounding another 11 inside. The gunmen, brothers Said and Cherif Kouachi, planned their attacks in retaliation for the magazine’s depictions of the Prophet Mohammed in its cartoons. The two were killed in a standoff with police two days later in a standoff in Dammartin-en-Goele.
During the two day dragnet to find the brothers, Amedy Coulibaly, an associate of the pair, attacked a Jewish grocery store in Paris taking over a dozen hostage and killing four inside. Coulibaly had also killed a policewoman the day before. He was killed in a shootout when police stormed the market.
BREAKING: Police storm theater where hostages are being held
As of 6:45 PM EST, It’s being reported on the BBC World News Network that police have stormed the concert where as many as 100 are being held.
As of 1:01 AM local time, the BBC began reporting that the police siege of the theater has been concluded.
At 1:26 AM local time, the BBC reported that sources in the police department are claiming that over 100 are dead inside the Bataclan concert hall likely pushing the death toll to around 150.
