Paris attacks kill at least 127
- Multiple gun, bomb attacks in Paris
- At least 127 people killed
- 80 killed at Bataclan concert hall
- France declares national state of emergency
- All borders closed
About 80 people were killed in the Bataclan concert hall in central Paris and 40 others have died in other locations in and around Paris in a militant attack, an official at Paris City hall said on Saturday.
Gunmen and bombers attacked busy restaurants, bars and a concert hall at locations around Paris on Friday evening, killing dozens of people in what a shaken President Francois Hollande described as an unprecedented terrorist attack.
Black-clad gunmen wielding AK-47s stormed into the Bataclan concert hall in eastern Paris and fired calmly and methodically at hundreds of screaming concert-goers, AFP adds.
Witnesses said the attackers shouted "Allahu akbar" ("God is greatest") and blamed France's military intervention in Syria as they sprayed bullets into the crowd watching US rock band Eagles of Death Metal.
Also READ: Paris attacks: Eyewitness accounts
Four attackers were killed when police stormed the Bataclan, which lies just 200 metres (yards) from the former offices of Charlie Hebdo magazine that was targeted in January.
Survivors of the Paris hostage crisis are being tended to https://t.co/KUltvf0KnY
— NowThis (@nowthisnews) November 14, 2015
#Paris: 8 terrorists dead, 7 in suicide bombings - AP citing prosecutor's office https://t.co/Z8TWDHvLNV pic.twitter.com/0ekWzeDfPH
— RT (@RT_com) November 14, 2015
Three of the attackers blew up suicide vests as police launched their attack, several sources said. The fourth was hit by police fire and blew up as he fell.
"There was blood everywhere, corpses everywhere. We heard screaming. Everyone was trying to flee," said Pierre Janaszak, a radio presenter who attended the concert and hid with several others at the venue.
"They had 20 hostages, and we could hear them talking with them," said Janaszak.
In the north of the city, at least five people were killed in three explosions near the Stade de France national stadium where France were playing Germany in an international football match, security sources said.
One of the explosions was caused by a suicide bomber, police and witnesses said.
President Francois Hollande was attending the match and had to be hastily evacuated.
A Cambodian restaurant near the concert hall was also attacked, with further deaths reported.
Mashable's @jessicaplautz reports from the streets of Paris amid a night of carnage: https://t.co/JkvHdje376 pic.twitter.com/AwVkdeWiPO
— Mashable (@mashable) November 14, 2015
"Terrorist attacks of an unprecedented level are underway across the Paris region," Hollande said in an emotional televised message.
"It's a horror."
Hollande declared a state of emergency across the entire country and cancelled his trip to the G20 summit due to take place this weekend in Turkey.
Prosecutors said at least five attackers had been "neutralised" in total.
Candlelight vigil in Union Square New York City. The world stands united with Paris. God be with Paris pic.twitter.com/PuH3BgYS1o
— Gary FrostGermanotta (@frostygary) November 14, 2015
'Corpses everywhere'
The most bloody of the attacks was at the Bataclan, where police said around 100 people were killed.
Eight extremists dead following deadly #ParisAttacks – as many as 120 Parisians dead: https://t.co/k7NGIOWro9 pic.twitter.com/Z56qt6tg9Q
— AP Interactive (@AP_Interactive) November 14, 2015
"We heard so many gunshots and the terrorists were very calm, very determined," Julien Pearce, a reporter for France's Europe 1 radio, told CNN while the hostage crisis was still underway.
"They reloaded three or four times ... and they didn't shout anything. They didn't say anything."
He said friends were still inside as he spoke.
"They are hiding in some kind of room in the dark and they text(ed) me, and they are very afraid, of course, and they are waiting for the police to intervene, but it's been over two hours now and this is terrible."
Hundreds of police had gathered outside and armed officers eventually stormed the venue at around 2335 GMT, accompanied by a series of explosions.
At the Stade de France, spectators flooded the pitch as news of the attacks spread before organisers started evacuations.
This is one of the most powerful pictures I have ever seen #ParisAttacks pic.twitter.com/zW9VKRxBoV
— Josh Woodward (@jwoodward93) November 14, 2015
'They opened fire'
An extra 1,500 soldiers were mobilised to reinforce police in Paris, Hollande's office said, while mayor Anne Hidalgo called for residents to stay home.
US President Barack Obama led a chorus of global condemnation, saying it was "an attack on all of humanity".
German Chancellor Angela Merkel and European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker said they were "deeply shocked" by the attacks.
France has been on high alert since the attacks in January against Charlie Hebdo and a Jewish supermarket that left 17 dead.
Security had begun to be stepped up ahead of key UN climate talks to be held just outside the French capital from November 30, with border checks restored from Friday.
More than 500 French fighters are thought to be with Islamic State in Syria and Iraq, according to official figures, while 250 have returned and some 750 expressed a desire to go there.
France has joined US-led air strikes on IS targets in Iraq for over a year and in September began bombing the jihadists in Syria.
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