120 dead in string of Paris attacks, worst since WWII
PARIS — A series
of attacks targeting young concert-goers, soccer fans and Parisians enjoying a
Friday night out at popular nightspots killed at least 120 people in the
deadliest violence to strike France since World War II. President Francois
Hollande condemned it as terrorism and pledged that France would stand firm
against its foes.
The worst carnage
was at a concert hall hosting an American rock band, where scores of people
were held hostage and attackers ended the standoff by detonating explosive belts.
Police who stormed the building encountered a bloody scene of horror inside.
When the attacks
were over, eight attackers were dead — seven of them in suicide explosions, one
killed by security forces in the music venue, Paris prosecutor's spokeswoman Agnes
Thibault-Lecuivre told The Associated Press.
She could not
exclude the possibility that some attackers might still be at large.
Authorities are searching for possible accomplices.
The death toll was
at least 120 people at six sites, including the national stadium and a circle
of popular nightspots, Thibault-Lecuivre said.
There was no
immediate claim of responsibility for the attacks. Jihadists on Twitter
immediately praised them and criticized France's military operations against
Islamic State extremists. Witnesses in the concert hall described hearing
attackers say "Allahu Akbar."
Hollande declared
a state of emergency and announced that he was closing the country's borders,
although officials later said they were just re-imposing border checks that had
been removed after Europe created its free-travel zone in the 1980s.
Metro lines shut
down and streets emptied on the mild fall evening as fear spread through the
city, still aching from the horrors of the Charlie Hebdo attack just 10 months
ago.
The attack
unfolded with and three suicide bombings outside the national stadium during a
soccer match between the French and German national teams, Thibault-Lecuivre
said.
Within minutes,
according to Paris police chief Michel Cadot, another group of attackers
sprayed cafes outside the concert hall with machine gunfire, then stormed
inside and opened fire on the panicked audience. As police closed in, three
detonated explosive belts, killing themselves.
Another attacker
detonated a suicide bomb on Boulevard Voltaire, near the music hall, the
prosecutor's office said.
Hollande, who had
to be evacuated from the stadium when the bombs went off outside, later vowed
that the nation would stand firm and united: "A determined France, a
united France, a France that joins together and a France that will not allow
itself to be staggered even if today, there is infinite emotion faced with this
disaster, this tragedy, which is an abomination, because it is barbarism."
In addition to the
deaths at the concert hall, dozens were killed in an attack on a restaurant in
the 10th arrondissement and several other establishments crowded on a Friday
night, police said. Authorities said at least three people died when the bombs
went off outside the soccer stadium.
All of the
officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to
be publicly named in the quickly moving investigation.
"This is a
terrible ordeal that again assails us," Hollande said in a nationally
televised address. "We know where it comes from, who these criminals are,
who these terrorists are."
U.S. President
Barack Obama, speaking to reporters in Washington, decried an "attack on
all humanity," calling the Paris violence an "outrageous attempt to
terrorize innocent civilians" and vowing to do whatever it takes to help
bring the perpetrators to justice.
Two explosions
were heard outside the Stade de France stadium north of Paris during a
France-Germany exhibition soccer game. A police union official, Gregory Goupil
of the Alliance Police Nationale, whose region includes the area of the
stadium, said there were two suicide attacks and a bombing that killed at least
three people near two entrances and a McDonalds.
The blasts
penetrated the sounds of cheering fans, according to an Associated Press
reporter in the stadium. Sirens were immediately heard, and a helicopter was
circling overhead.
France has
heightened security measures ahead of a major global climate conference that
starts in two weeks, out of fear of violent protests and potential terrorist
attacks. Hollande canceled a planned trip to this weekend's G-20 summit in
Turkey, which was to focus in large part on growing fears of terrorism carried
out by Islamic extremists.
Emilio Macchio,
from Ravenna, Italy, was at Le Carillon restaurant, one of the restaurants
targeted, having a beer on the sidewalk, when the shooting started. He said he
didn't see any gunmen or victims, but hid behind a corner, then ran away.
"It sounded
like fireworks," he said.
France has been on
edge since January, when Islamic extremists attacked the satirical newspaper Charlie
Hebdo, which had run cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad, and a kosher grocery.
Twenty people died, including the three attackers. The Charlie Hebdo attackers
claimed links to extremists in Yemen, while the kosher market attacker claimed
ties to the Islamic State group.
This time, they
targeted young people enjoying a rock concert and ordinary city residents
enjoying a Friday night out.
One of the
targeted restaurants, Le Carillon, is in the same general neighborhood as the
Charlie Hebdo offices, as is the Bataclan, among the best-known venues in
eastern Paris, near the trendy Oberkampf area known for a vibrant nightlife.
The California-based band Eagles of Death Metal was scheduled to play there
Friday night.
Among the first
physicians to respond to the wounded Friday was Patrick Pelloux, an emergency
room doctor and former Charlie Hebdo writer who was among the first to enter
the offices Jan. 7 to find his friends and colleagues dead.
The country has
seen several smaller-scale attacks or attempts since, including an incident on
a high-speed train in August in which American travelers thwarted an attempted
attack by a heavily armed man.
France's military
is bombing Islamic State targets in Syria and Iraq and fighting extremists in
Africa, and extremist groups have frequently threatened France in the past.
French authorities
are particularly concerned about the threat from hundreds of French Islamic
radicals who have travelled to Syria and returned home with skills to stage
violence.
Though it was
unclear who was responsible for Friday night's violence, the Islamic State is
"clearly the name at the top of everyone's list," said Brian Michael
Jenkins, a terrorism expert and senior adviser to the president of the
Washington-based RAND Corporation.
Jenkins said the
tactic used — "multiple attackers in coordinated attacks at multiple
locations" — echoed recommendations published in the extremist group's
online magazine, Dabbiq, over the summer.
"The big
question on everyone's mind is, were these attackers, if they turn out to be
connected to one of the groups in Syria, were they homegrown terrorists or were
they returning fighters from having served" with the Islamic State group,
Jenkins said. "That will be a huge question."
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Structure of the
Lead：
WHO- not given
WHEN-
WHAT-
WHY-not given
WHERE-
HOW-not given
Keywords：
- attack 攻擊
- pledge 許諾
- carnage 大屠殺
- suicide 自殺
- accomplice 共犯
- witness 目擊者
- detonate 引爆
- evacuate 撤離
- criminal 罪犯
- terrorist 恐怖主義者
