France has decided to close its borders, declare a nation-wide state of emergency, and deploy its army in and around Paris after at least 153 people were killed and dozens injured in multiple shootings, a 100-person hostage crisis, and explosions rocked the French capital late on Friday.
The drastic measures were announced by French President Francois Hollande who made a televised address late on Friday evening, just minutes before midnight.
The attack is believed to be the biggest to take place in a France’s history.
A total of eight militants were killed, including seven by their suicide belts, during Friday’s attacks, a source close to the investigation told Agence France-Presse.
Four of the attackers were killed in the Bataclan concert hall, three by activating their suicide vests and one shot by police. Three more died near the national stadium and a fourth was killed in a street in eastern Paris.
Hollande and his U.S. counterpart Barack Obama vowed to reinforce their counter-terrorism cooperation following Friday’s attack.
“Barack Obama wanted to express his support to the French people in the face of this terrible tragedy,” said the source. “They reaffirmed their commitment to working closely in the fight against terrorism.”
One of the attacks took place at the Bataclan concert hall where nearly 100 people had been killed at the venue. Police reprtedly stormed the hall after it had been taken seige an uncertain number of gunmen.
They later reported that four of the attackers were killed at the convert hall venue, including three who died immediately after activating their explosive belts.
“Three of them blew themselves up and a fourth, who was also wearing a belt, was hit by police fire and blew up as he fell,” one source told the AFP news agency.
According to a witness, one attacker in the concert hall had shouted “Allahu akbar,” meaning “God is great” in Arabic, and fired into the crowd.
An Al Arabiya News correspondent quoted witnesses at the Bataclan hall saying that the gunmen had allegedly said: “What we’ve done was in response to your actions in Syria.”
Source: Alarabiya
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