PARIS (Nov 14): Paris declared an emergency after a wave of deadly attacks Friday left more than 100 people dead, most of them at a concert hall where gunmen seized hostages before the venue was stormed by security forces.
There were also shootings at a restaurant, and bomb attacks near the national sports stadium. President Francois Hollande closed France’s borders and imposed a state of alert as the cabinet held an extraordinary meeting. Police advised people to stay indoors.
In some of the latest developments:
* Police stormed a Paris theater where hostages were being held at a rock concert; four gunmen were killed. Attackers shouted ‘Allahu Akbar,’ according to local media
* France’s state of emergency allows authorities to shut down entertainment venues
* Hollande said he’ll skip the G-20 meeting of the world’s biggest economies starting this weekend in Turkey, and will convene his defense cabinet Saturday morning
* Secretary of State John Kerry said the U.S. embassy in Paris is “making every effort to account for the welfare of American citizens in the city”
* An additional 1,500 French troops were deployed in central Paris
* President Barack Obama and U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron expressed solidarity and offered any help needed
* American Airlines held up departures to Paris late Friday, ABC TV reported
* Le Monde daily reported a total death toll of 112, citing Paris city hall
The slaughter in Paris took place against a backdrop of mounting anxiety in Europe and beyond about jihadist extremism. Seventeen people were killed in January in a rampage by gunmen that started at the Paris offices of Charlie Hebdo magazine. Two weeks ago, a Russian passenger jet was downed over Sinai by what U.S. and U.K. intelligence says was probably a bomb. On Thursday, suicide bombers killed more than 40 people in Beirut.
The carnage will raise questions about how the perpetrators slipped through the net of French intelligence and will heighten security across a continent already on high alert for further attacks. Paris hosts a global climate-change summit in less than three weeks.
The wave of attacks began earlier Friday when blasts rocked the Stade de France sports arena, where France was playing a soccer game against Germany. Hollande was at the game and was evacuated to the Interior Ministry.
The hostage-taking occurred at the Bataclan theater in the 11th district of Paris, where the U.S. rock band Eagles of Death Metal was performing. There were also shootings outside a restaurant in the 10th district.
“Unprecedented terrorist attacks are underway. There are dozens dead,” Hollande said in Paris in a nationally televised address. “We must, in these difficult moments, show compassion and solidarity, but we also need to show unity and cool- headedness.”
The French president canceled plans to attend a Group of 20 summit in Turkey starting tomorrow, and will convene a meeting of the defense cabinet at 9 a.m., his office said.
‘Tier-One Target’
Obama told reporters in Washington that Paris has witnessed “an outrageous attempt to terrorize innocent civilians.” He said the U.S. stands ready to provide any needed assistance to its French ally.
There’s a strong chance the attacks are related to France’s participation in the fight against extremists in Syria and north Africa, said Thomas M. Sanderson, director of the Transnational Threats Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. He said Islamic State and al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula are the likeliest suspects.
“Long-standing grievances as well as contemporary activity by France makes them a tier-one target,” Sanderson said. “They’re not the primary actor from the air, we are, but they are much more reachable than the U.S. is.”