Terrorists on a murderous rampage killed Hunderds of people in multiple attacks in the French capital Friday night, including at least 100 held hostage at a concert hall before police swept in.
Explosions and gunfire erupted as the heavily armed security forces poured into the theater where a California rock group was playing. One police official described "carnage" inside the building, saying the attackers tossed explosives at the hostages, then blew themselves up with suicide belts as police closed in, the Associated Press reported. It was unclear how many hostages were rescued.
Agnes Thibault-Lecuivre, a spokeswoman for the Paris prosecutor's office said early Saturday that eight terrorists died in the attacks, seven of them in suicide bombings, according to AP.
The eighth was killed by security forces in the attempt to rescue the hostages at the concert hall. Overall, at least 120 people were killed in the attacks at six sites across the city, Thibault-Lecuivre said.
She also said it is possible that terrorists tied to the attacks remain at large.
In addition to the scores of people killed at the concert venue, at least 11 died in a Paris restaurant in the 10th arrondissement and at least three died when bombs went off outside a stadium, police said.
It was the deadliest violence Paris has seen since World War II. No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attacks. SITE Intelligence Group, a U.S. organization that monitors extremist websites, said jihadists were celebrating the attacks on social media.
"Terrorist attacks of unprecedented scale are underway," Hollande said in a national TV address. "There have been dozens of deaths, there are many injured, it's a horror."
The attacks come just 11 months after 16 were killed in twin attacks at the Paris offices of the French satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo and a kosher grocery store outside the city.
"Once again we are under attack," Hollande said, adding the French military was being deployed across the city. A curfew was in place in Paris for the first time since WWII.
"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."
Parisians launched the hashtag #PorteOuverte, which translates to #OpenDoor, on Twitter to offer shelter and safety to those stranded in the city. French media reported that taxi drivers were turning off their meters and driving people home — or to safety — for free.
Facebook encouraged Paris-based users to "check in" with its Safety Check feature, which lets their Facebook friends know if they are in the area and safe.
In Washington, President Obama called the assaults an "attack on all humanity and the universal values we all share." He added it was a "heartbreaking situation" and said he did not want to speculate about who may be responsible for the tragedy.
Police in major cities across the USA stepped up security Friday ahead of a weekend packed with sports events. Officials in New York, Chicago and Philadelphia said they had received no intelligence indicating any threats, but were stepping up patrols and taking other security precautions.
U.S. passengers bound for Paris were in limbo as airlines canceled flights in light of France closing its borders. "It's truly chaos," said Henry Harteveldt, founder of Atmosphere Research Group, a travel industry research company. "The airlines are waiting for clarification from the government."
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said the U.S. embassy in Paris was "making every effort to account for the welfare of American citizens in the city."
Witnesses said the attacker at the Bataclan concert hall, where the California rock group Eagles of Death Metal was playing at the time, shouted "Allahu akbar" (God is great) and fired into the crowd.
"At first I didn't understand what was going on — there were so many gunshots and debris flying at my head," said Pierre Marie Bertin, 36, who was at the theater when the shooting began. "You get down. You find yourself between dead bodies."
He said there were as many as four gunmen. At one point, he said, some male hostages "went onto the balcony and tried to negotiate for the life of their wives with one of the guys. It was sickening."
The initial shootings occurred outside the restaurant Le Petit Cambodia and the bar Le Carillon.
Philippe Caupain, a California resident who owns a business in Rancho Mirage, Calif., waited anxiously last night for news on the fate of his niece, who was shot twice.
His 31-year-old niece Amandeen Andretto, who works in Paris, had gone to the Bataclan theatre to attend the concert. Soon after they arrived, terrorists began shooting and throwing explosives, taking more than 100 people hostage in the theater.
"When this happened, her parents tried to call her, but there was no answer," Caupain said.
Four hours after news of the attacks reached the U.S., Caupain said he received a call from his family to tell him that Andretto had been shot twice — once in the arm and once in the leg. But she was going to be OK.
Andretto is in the hospital right now, Caupain said, and while the news of her being shot horrifies him, he's grateful that she survived the attack.
"On one end, we were very concerned, but when we found out that on the other hand she's alive, that was good news," he said. "It's a bad situation."
Caupain said there's no news on Andretto's boyfriend at this point, and no way of finding out.
"We hope to learn more in the morning," he said. "It's a chaotic situation over there."
At the stadium, an announcer told fans over the loudspeaker to avoid certain exits "due to events outside," without elaborating. The announcement at first prompted some panic, but then the crowds just walked dazed, hugging each other and looking at their phones for the latest news of the violence.
Many appeared hesitant to leave amid the uncertainty after France's deadliest attacks in decades.
(AP/USA Today)
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