ISIS claims responsibility for Paris attacks

ISIS claims responsibility for Paris attacks

ISIS claims responsibility for Paris attacks

Islamic State jihadists (ISIS) today claimed a
series of coordinated attacks by suicide bombers
and gunmen in Paris that killed at least 128
people at a concert hall, restaurants and the
national sports stadium.
French President Francois Hollande also
blamed the Islamic extremist group and
called the coordinated assault yesterday
night at six different sites an “act of
war”.
At least eight militants, all wearing
suicide vests, brought unprecedented
violence to the streets of the French
capital in the worst attacks in Europe
since the 2004 Madrid train bombings.
In the bloodiest part of a night of
violence, four men armed with AK47s
and shouting “Allahu akbar” stormed
into a rock concert at the Bataclan
concert hall in eastern Paris, gunning
down at least 82 people and taking
dozens hostage.
“They didn’t stop firing. There was blood
everywhere, corpses everywhere.
Everyone was trying to flee,” said Pierre
Janaszak, a radio presenter who was at
the concert by US rock band Eagles of
Death Metal.
The gunmen were heard raging at
Hollande and his decision in September
to begin air strikes on Isis jihadists in
Syria.
“I clearly heard them say ‘It’s the fault of
Hollande, it’s the fault of your president,
he should not have intervened in Syria’,”
Janaszak added.
French officials have spoken frequently
of their fears that hundreds of French
citizens thought to be fighting with Isis
in Syria and Iraq would return to France
and launch attacks.
France has taken part in US-led air
strikes on Isis targets in Iraq for over a
year and in September began bombing
the jihadists in Syria, claiming to have
hit a training camp and an oil
installation.
In a statement issued online on Saturday
morning, Isis said that “eight brothers
wearing explosive belts and carrying
assault rifles” conducted a “blessed
attack on… Crusader France.”
The death toll of 128 does not include the
eight attackers, the first suicide bombers
to strike in France.
The assault also left at least 250
wounded, 100 of them seriously.
Hollande said the multiple attacks across
Paris were “an act of war… committed by
a terrorist army, Daesh, against France”,
using another term for Isis.
France has been on high alert since
January when jihadist gunmen killed 17
people in Paris in attacks targeting
satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo and a
Jewish supermarket.
Another disaster was narrowly averted
in August when a gunman was
overpowered on a packed high-speed
train in northern France.
No arrests had been made by early this
morning and the country was in a state
of emergency, decreed by Hollande
yesterday night.
Police were screening hours of CCTV
footage of the attack sites and were
attempting to identify the body parts of
the attackers.
As a precaution, sports events were
cancelled in Paris,, while public schools
and many museums were closed.