This live blog is closing now; live coverage continues in our fresh blog here:
Latest summary
Hanover
- A football friendly between Germany and Holland at the Tui Arena was cancelled at 7.30pm local time and the stadium evacuated after police received “concrete information” of a terror attack in the stadium.
- The central train station remained closed while a bomb squad disposed of a suspicious object there.
- There has been no official confirmation that explosives were found near the stadium, but Hanover’s police chief Volker Kluwe told media that the plan was to “detonate explosives” at the stadium.
Paris
- French police are seeking a ninth possible attacker involved in Paris attacks.
- French police investigating the Paris attacks believe the terrorists may have been planning a further assault in the 18th arrondissement that was abandoned.
- A cell phone has been found near the site of one of Friday’s Paris shootings with a map of the music venue that was attacked and a text message on it saying words to the effect of “let’s go”, CNN reports.
‘Safe houses’ and vehicles investigated in Paris Attacks
- A black Renault Clio is the third car found in Paris with Belgian number plates that may be linked to the attacks – the vehicle was reportedly hired by Salah Abdeslam, the suspect now on the run.
- Investigators now believe that two safe houses in the Paris suburbs were used by Friday night’s attackers: a hotel room in Appart’City in the southern suburb of Alfortville, and an apartment in the north-eastern suburb of Bobigny.
Suspects tracked and arrests made in connection with Paris attacks
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Germany’s top security official downplayed possible links between seven people arrested in the western town of Aachen and the Paris attacks.
- Two men who have been charged in Belgium with terror offences have admitted picking up Salah Abdeslam from Paris early on Friday morning, but deny aiding the bombers.
- The voice on an Isis video distributed via social media after the attacks has reportedly been identified as that of Fabien Clain, a French citizen from Toulouse who has been active on the militant Islamist scene and is based in Raqqa.
France calls for EU help following Paris attacks
- The French defence minister, Jean-Yves Le Drian, formally requested help from his country’s EU partners, the first time the mutual assistance article in the EU treaty has been invoked. This before France launched a fresh round of strikes on the Isis stronghold Raqqa in Syria.
Victims remembered
- 117 of the 129 victims who died in Paris on Friday night have now been identified, France’s justice minister, Christiane Taubira, has announced. Here are some profiles of those who died.
Updated
Phone found with 'let's go' message – reports
Reuters reports:
A cell phone has been found near the site of one of Friday’s Paris shootings with a map of the music venue that was attacked and a text message on it saying words to the effect of “let’s go”, a source with knowledge of the investigations said.
Confirming reports on French web site Mediapart and US television channel CNN, the source said the phone was found in a dustbin near the Bataclan concert hall where the bloodiest of the shootings took place.
CNN reports that the message was found on an encrypted app on the phone.
The Guardian has not yet been able to verify the reports independently.
According to local reports, a bomb disposal squad has removed the suspicious package from the central train station in Hanover:
BREAKING: German bomb disposal team have removed a suspicious package from a train in Hanover. #GERNED
— DW Sports (@dw_sports) November 17, 2015
France’s health minister, Marisol Touraine, announced on Tuesday that all medical care will be free for the victims of last week’s terrorist attacks.
(Her statement below in French)
[CP @MarisolTouraine] Gratuité des soins immédiate pour les victimes d'actes terroristes >> https://t.co/9ZEgpGgrFb pic.twitter.com/nSP1ond5pQ
— Gouvernement (@gouvernementFR) November 17, 2015
The identities of about a dozen people killed in the Paris attacks are still unknown. We have been putting together profiles of those who died on Friday night:
You can leave your vigil photos, tributes and reactions here:
Back to Paris, and police sources have told Agence France-Presse that a ninth attacker was involved in the Paris attacks:
#BREAKING Video confirms existence of ninth attacker in Paris: police sources
— Agence France-Presse (@AFP) November 17, 2015
The Guardian has not confirmed these reports.
Updated
Here’s a video of the Marseillaise being sung at Wembley earlier tonight:
What we know about the Hanover 'explosion' threat
Germany’s Interior Minister De Maizière has just given a press conference with Boris Pistorius, the interior minister of Lower Saxony. Here’s what we’ve learned:
- A football friendly between Germany and Holland in the city of Hanover was cancelled at 7.30pm local time (91 minutes before kick-off) and the stadium evacuated after police received “concrete information” of a terror attack in the stadium.
- Hanover’s police chief Volker Kluwe told media that the plan was to “detonate explosives” at the stadium. There has been no official confirmation of local media reports that explosives were found near the stadium.
- Heavily armed police evacuated the stadium, before the German national team even entered the stadium. Team spokesman Jens Gritnner said the team had been taken to a “secure place.”
- Hanover’s central train station remains partially closed off, as are some public transport stops.
- Angela Merkel and other leading politicians were due to attend the match, which had been billed as a sign of solidarity towards the victims of the Paris attacks. Merkel flew back home to Berlin after being alerted of the threat.
- De Maizière said that the tip-off to the threat came from a “foreign source”.
- No arrests have yet been made.
Updated
De Maizière said that the information came from a foreign source. The central train station is partially closed off, as are some public transport stops.
He also said German chancellor Angela Merkel, who was due to attend the match, flew back home to Berlin after being alerted of the threat.
The press conference is now over.
(via Philip Olterman)
The interior minister for Lower Saxony, Boris Pistorius, said that no arrests had been made so far, and said he could not confirm a report in a local newspaper that explosives had been found in an ambulance outside the stadium.
“It was an extremely tough decision to cancel the match which was made after many pieces of information indicated a concrete threat”, de Maizière said.
At a press conference in Hanover, German interior minister Thomas de Maizière said that the decision to call off the match had been made after “an increase in tip-offs in the early evening”, but refused to comment further on the source and extent of the threat, writes my colleague Philip Oltermann.
According to German news agency DPA, the information about a planned Islamist attack had come from a foreign intelligence service.
Thomas de Maizière’s press conference is now starting.
Updated
Police have now closed off a section of the Hauptbahnhof’s Central Station in Hanover:
BREAKING: Police in Hanover have closed a section of the city's central train station as another object has been discovered." #GERNED
— DW Sports (@dw_sports) November 17, 2015
The head of Hanover police, Volker Kluwe, said they had received “concrete information that someone was planning to set off explosives inside the stadium” approximately 15 minutes after the gates of the stadium were opened.
Police have also evacuated the Tui Arena concert hall, which was due to host a gig by the band Söhne Mannheims at 8pm tonight.
Police say they’re not commenting further for now. We are still waiting for the interior ministry’s press conference to begin.
England and France fans sing Marseillaise at Wembley
Over at Wembley stadium in London, France and England fans have put aside historic rivalries to join together in the singing of the French national anthem at the international football friendly involving the two countries at Wembley stadium.
Amid enhanced security in the wake of last week’s terror attacks across Paris, which included three suicide bombers blowing themselves up outside the Stade de France as France played Germany, the lyrics of the La Marseillaise were displayed inside Wembley in a show of solidarity and defiance.
More on the Marseillaise here.
Follow our football live blog for more the minute-by-minute updates on the match itself:
Meanwhile, France is currently launching a fresh round of air strikes on Islamic State’s stronghold Raqqa, in Syria:
#BREAKING French airstrikes hit IS Syrian stronghold Raqa again: defence minister
— Agence France-Presse (@AFP) November 17, 2015
Updated
UPDATE: The German domestic affairs minister Thomas de Maizière’s press conference has been delayed.
Updated
The German minister of domestic affairs is due to give a press conference shortly:
German minister of domestic affairs, Thomas de Maizière, will give a press conference in four minutes. #GERNED
— DW Sports (@dw_sports) November 17, 2015
Updated
A German police official has told local television that the match was cancelled after information that a bomb attack was planned in the stadium (via Reuters).
German daily Bild is reporting that anti-terror units are on their way to the stadium now:
Anti-Terror-Einheit GSG9 auf dem Weg zum Stadion. https://t.co/wbVISiBpcA #GERNED
— BILD (@BILD) November 17, 2015
Updated
Looks like the threat concern in Hanover goes beyond the stadium where the friendly was due to take place:
Concert at 14,000-capacity TUI Arena in Hannover also evacuated. via @BILD
— Josie Ensor (@Josiensor) November 17, 2015
Police tell @ABC threat concerns whole of #Hannover, not just stadium. Teams were not in stadium, evacuated to undisclosed location #GERNED
— Jon Williams (@WilliamsJon) November 17, 2015
According to Bild, heavily armed security forces are at one of the entrances of the HDI-Arena (where the Germany-Netherlands game was set to take place):
#GERNED abgesagt. Schwer bewaffnete Einsatzkräfte stehen an einem der Eingänge zur HDI-Arena. pic.twitter.com/hPh3HzvKkI
— BILD (@BILD) November 17, 2015
Updated
It looks like the earlier police activity in the town of Quiévrain, at the Belgian border with France, may have been a false alarm, according to local media reports.
We will keep monitoring this for further developments.
A high-ranking Belgian official has told Politico Europe that fugitive suspect Salah Abdeslam may still be “in the Brussels area” :
“There’s communication that indicates that the person is in Belgium and would continue the plan,” the official said, who talked on the condition of anonymity to discuss the ongoing case. “We do know that he’s been in Brussels; 24 hours ago he was in Molenbeek.”
Authorities raised the terror threat level from two, which means “moderate, less probable,” to three, which means “serious, probable.” They canceled the Belgian national soccer team’s Tuesday night friendly match against Spain because Abdeslam remains at-large. The government also announced it would increase the number of soldiers patrolling public areas by 300, to a total of 520.
The Belgian official’s comments provide more details on why authorities suddenly placed the region on high alert. The game was canceled because of active intelligence leads, according to the source.
The Germany-Holland match was cancelled less than 90 minutes before kick-off.
Meanwhile, fans have been streaming into Wembley stadium in London in anticipation of this evening’s football friendly between France and England. A crowd of around 80,000 is expected, writes my colleague Scott Murray.
Kick off is at 8pm local time in London, 9pm in Paris. Check out the football live blog for more on the match:
Updated
Here’s more on the cancellation of the football friendly between Germany and Holland:
Police have cancelled the friendly between Germany and Holland after the stadium in Hanover was evacuated on Tuesday when a suspicious suitcase was found inside.
An Associated Press reporter was not let into the HDI-Arena about two and a half hours before the kick-off. Fans were also held back.
Police spokesperson Stephanie Weiss said a suspicious object was found at the stadium. Police later opened the doors and fans started coming in but the stadium was then evacuated and the game called off.
The German chancellor, Angela Merkel, and several cabinet ministers were expected to attend the match, which comes four days after the terrorist attacks in Paris.
Germany was playing France in a friendly during the Paris attacks.
Updated
Germany-Netherlands game 'cancelled for security reasons'
BREAKING: A stadium announcement says the Germany-Netherlands game in Hannover has been cancelled.
— The Associated Press (@AP) November 17, 2015
#BREAKING Germany-Holland football match called off for 'security reasons': police
— Agence France-Presse (@AFP) November 17, 2015
Updated
The Associated Press reports that the Hannover stadium hosting the Germany-Netherlands game is being evacuated:
BREAKING: Hannover stadium hosting Germany-Netherlands game is being evacuated.
— The Associated Press (@AP) November 17, 2015
AP’s sports reporter in Germany has been asked to leave the stadium:
They're evacuating the stadium. I've just been asked to leave. #Hannover #GERNED
— Ciarán Fahey (@cfaheyAP) November 17, 2015
Updated
According to French newspaper 20 Minutes, a police officer opened fire earlier this afternoon in central Paris.
The newspaper reports that one person is seriously injured and the area has been cordoned off by police.
Nombreux policiers / pompiers et Samu rue Saint Honoré / Place André Malraux. Que pasa? #Paris pic.twitter.com/kJwTNmiN35
— Roger K (@leduducaki) November 17, 2015
[Info @20Minutes] Rue Saint-Honoré: Un blessé grave après un coup de feu d'un policier https://t.co/rfzBxlnkhe pic.twitter.com/iGKWg2hiIJ
— William Molinié (@WilliamMolinie) November 17, 2015
There seems to be another police search under way, this time in Molenbeek, Belgium:
Un quartier bouclé à #Molenbeek. Perquisition en cours dans un immeuble. Policiers masqués en position pic.twitter.com/NjDWlD99Hf
— Guillaume Auda (@GuillaumeAuda) November 17, 2015
Another search ongoing in #Molenbeek #Belgium #ParisAttacks pic.twitter.com/deVw1OFF8w
— Rym Momtaz (@RymMomtaz) November 17, 2015
For more on the Belgian town connected to the Paris attacks:
Updated
About 10,000 people, according to France Info, have gathered at the Place du Capitole in Toulouse, to mourn the victims of Friday’s attacks:
#AttentatsParis Rassemblement place du Capitole pic.twitter.com/dGYbJ9c6Qh
— Préfet Midi-Pyrénées (@PrefetMidiPy) November 17, 2015
Vive la #République ! #Toulouse #ParisAttacks pic.twitter.com/j8rA99BPJN
— Jean-Luc MOUDENC (@jlmoudenc) November 17, 2015
People have been chanting: “Paris, Paris, Toulouse is with you.”
.@Paris, #Paris, #Toulouse est avec toi 🇫🇷 #NousSommesUnis pic.twitter.com/y9Wzu0sTK0
— Toulouse (@Toulouse) November 17, 2015
Updated
Roughly an hour ago, armed police undertook an operation at the hotel in Alfortville, which investigators believe Friday night’s attackers used as a safe house.
A room in Appart’City Alfortville, a hotel in southern Paris, was booked in the name of Salah Abdeslam from 11-17 November.
The security cordon has just been lifted, and guests were allowed back into the hotel, according to Sky News correspondent Tom Parmenter:
Cordon lifted at hotel in Alfortville - guests allowed back to hotel - cops had been looking at a white van - unclear way
— Tom Parmenter (@TomSkyNews) November 17, 2015
Updated
All 352 people wounded in the Paris attacks have now been identified, according to the public hospitals network of Paris and the French army’s health services.
Earlier on Tuesday, French health minister Marisol Touraine said that 221 people are still in hospital following the attacks, of who 57 are in intensive care. “At least three people” remain in critical condition, Touraine said.
Updated
Germany downplays links between Aachen arrests and Paris attacks
More from Germany, where the country’s top security official has downplayed possible links between the arrests of three people in the western city of Aachen and the investigation of the Paris attacks:
Police said Swat teams arrested a man and two women in the town of Alsdorf on Tuesday after authorities received a tip from the public that the man might be Salah Abdeslam, a key suspect sought over the attacks. Police later arrested two more people in the town.
Germany’s interior minister, Thomas de Maiziere, told reporters in Berlin that it wasn’t clear how the people might be linked to the Paris attacks, if at all, “but sadly it’s not the man that everyone hoped it would be”.
Austrian authorities say Abdeslam entered Austria from Germany on 9 November four days before the attacks with two companions.
(via the Associated Press)
Updated
According to reports in Belgium, a car has run through a police checkpoint near the Belgian town of Quiévrain on the French border, triggering a large Franco-Belgian police operation.
The car has so far not been found, and a description not yet released.
Quiévrain is where the fugitive suspect, Salah Abdeslam, was manager and part-owner of a company until the end of September.
Updated
Germany’s interior ministry has said the arrests made earlier near Aachen were not “closely connected” to the Paris attacks.
German police have arrested 7 people in aachen and 2 in North Rhine-Westphalia - not closely connected to Paris
— jenny hill (@jennyhillBBC) November 17, 2015
Updated
Planned attack in the 18th arrondissement may have been abandoned, police say
French police investigating the Paris attacks believe the terrorists may have been planning a further assault.
In its statement claiming responsibility for the bombings and shootings in Paris, Isis mentioned one in the 18th arrondissement in the north of the city.
Friday’s attacks, however, took place in the 10th and 11th arrondissements as well as at the Stade de France stadium on the city’s outskirts.
On Tuesday, police discovered an abandoned black Renault Clio in the 18th district that was reportedly hired by Salah Abdeslam, the suspect who is on the run. The vehicle was parked in Place Albert Khan.
Le Nouvel Observateur reported that police investigating the attacks were not only looking for Abdeslam but possibly also the eighth suicide bomber mentioned in the Isis communiqué.
The two men who helped Abdeslam flee Paris on Friday evening have been named as Mohamed Amri and Hamza Attou, who were living in the Molenbeek district of Brussels and who are now in police custody.
The black Clio is the third vehicle linked to the jihadi teams.
Updated
French officials seeking second fugitive
French officials have said they are seeking a second fugitive directly involved in the Paris attacks, according to Associated Press.
Updated
What we know so far
I’m handing over this live blog here in London to my colleague Raya Jalabi in New York, who will continue the live coverage, including events at the England vs France match at Wembley stadium tonight.
Here’s how events today have unfolded so far:
‘Safe houses’ and vehicles investigated
-
A black Renault Clio is the third car found in Paris with Belgian number plates that may be linked to the attacks – the vehicle was reportedly hired by Salah Abdeslam, the suspect now on the run.
- Investigators now believe that two safe houses in the Paris suburbs were used by Friday night’s attackers: a hotel room in Appart’City in the southern suburb of Alfortville, and an apartment in the north-eastern suburb of Bobigny.
Suspects tracked and arrests made
- German police in the town of Aachen, close to the Belgian border, have arrested seven people in an operation linked to the attacks.
- Two men who have been charged in Belgium with terror offences have admitted picking up Salah Abdeslam from Paris early on Friday morning, but deny aiding the bombers.
- The voice on an Isis video distributed via social media after the attacks has reportedly been identified as that of Fabien Clain, a French citizen from Toulouse who has been active on the militant Islamist scene and is based in Raqqa.
Victims remembered
- 117 of the 129 victims who died in Paris on Friday night have now been identified, France’s justice minister, Christiane Taubira, has announced.
- A Twitter account, @ParisVictims, set up by the website Mashable, has been tweeting tributes, one every hour, to the victims.
- Graham Satchell, an experienced BBC reporter, was overcome with emotion during a live interview from one of the Paris memorials.
France calls for EU help following Paris attacks
- The French defence minister, Jean-Yves Le Drian, has made a formal request for help from his country’s EU partners, the first time the mutual assistance article in the EU treaty has been invoked.
- The EU economic affairs commissioner, Pierre Moscovici, has told a news conference that France will suffer no penalties for missing budgetary targets, in order to spend more on security.
- The US secretary of state, John Kerry, said he had discussed how the two nations would strengthen their cooperation to combat Isis during a brief meeting with François Hollande.
New round of airstrikes against Isis
- The French military dropped 16 bombs on targets in the Isis stronghold of Raqqa in northern Syria, hitting a command centre and a training centre, France’s defence ministry has said.
- Russia also staged airstrikes on Raqqa, US and French officials have said.
- RAF Tornado fighter jets have bombed a large group of more than 30 Isis terrorists attacking Kurdish forces in northern Iraq, the Ministry of Defence has said.
Updated
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have signed a book of condolence at the French embassy in London, paying tribute to the victims of Friday’s attacks.
The Duchess wrote: “To all those who have died and were injured in the heartless attacks in Paris, and to all the people in France: nos plus sincères condoléances.”
Updated
Gun shots have been heard in Boulogne, about 20 miles south of Calais in northern France, where police are carrying out a raid, according to local media.
Boulogne-sur-Mer : opération antiterroriste en cours, un homme interpellé https://t.co/CBirl6Ybu3 pic.twitter.com/9pc9lpt5tj
— La Voix du Nord web (@lavoixdunord) November 17, 2015
A significant police presence was reported at 4pm and at least 15 police vehicles were seen in the area.
Local authorities said the raid was part of France’s continuing state of emergency and not necessarily related to the Paris attacks.
Updated
Police in the western German town of Alsdorf, near Aachen, have arrested two more people in an operation linked to the attacks in Paris, bringing the total number of arrests to seven.
“After the terror attacks last Friday in Paris and the search for the perpetrators and the people pulling the strings, police in Aachen got a lead to suspicious individuals in Alsdorf,” a police statement said.
A spokesman said the three were foreign citizens but said investigations were ongoing.
Updated
Iran’s president, Hassan Rouhani, has had a phone conversation with François Hollande, according to his website.
The statement from Rouhani says:
The Islamic Republic of Iran calls for a united front in confronting terrorism around the world.
Terrorists can never achieve their goals when it comes to all nations and governments of the world.
Isis terrorists showed that by conducting this horrific, brutal, and repulsive attack, they have called all countries to the battleground; therefore, a global alliance against them is necessary.
He called for greater cooperation to tackle terrorism, between all countries, in the wake of the Paris attacks, and said Iran would share more intelligence with France.
To eradicate terrorism, there should be joint planning by all countries. Their funding resources and access to advance weapons and training sites should also be cut and eradicated.
I hope that those countries which were trying to use terrorism as a tool to advance their interests, have understood the global risks of this kind of practice.
Eradicating terrorism from Syria and Iraq should be our first priority and we should consult and cooperate with each other in this area.
Rouhani cancelled a visit to Italy and France on Saturday, following the Paris attacks.
Updated
The brother of Salah Abdeslam has urged the wanted man to hand himself over to the authorities.
Speaking to the French news channel BMFTV, Mohamed Abdeslam said:
We are a family, we are thinking about him, we are wondering where he is, if he’s scared, if he’s eating.
The best thing would be for him to hand himself in so that the authorities can work out exactly what’s happened.
Updated
This extremely moving video, subtitled in English, is a conversation between a father and his young son about the Paris attacks.
“It’s OK, they might have guns but we have flowers,” says the boy’s father, explaining how the bouquets and candles can protect France against terrorism.
Updated
The Guardian’s Fazel Hawramy in Irbil in northern Iraq, Phoebe Greenwood in the Greek island of Leros, Milan Dinic and Patrick Kingsley have been looking at how easy it is to buy a Syrian passport.
Forgers in the Middle East are offering fake Syrian passports for as little as $250 (£165), days after it emerged that one of the Paris bombers may have entered Europe using false Syrian paperwork.
The development raises fears over the potential security threat posed by tens of thousands of asylum seekers arriving in Greece every week, and will amplify calls to provide them with secure and legal routes to safety.
Updated
The German news site Spiegel Online is reporting that the Paris attack suspect Salah Abdeslam is not among those arrested in Alsdorf, near Aachen.
It quotes police sources naming those arrested as Kamal A, 29, Lava M, 28, and Didem A, 32.
The suspects “could be connected with the Paris attacks”, Aachen’s police spokesman, Werner Schneider, told German news channel n-tv, but he has cautioned that “either these indications will be confirmed or they could all go up into thin air”.
Updated
117 of the 129 victims who died in Paris on Friday night have now been identified, France’s justice minister, Christiane Taubira,has announced.
The Guardian has been publishing profiles of those we know died in Friday night’s massacre at Paris’s Bataclan theatre and cafes and restaurants.
Updated
Russia hopes for new cooperation with France on Syria airstrikes
The Russian president has ordered his navy deployed in the Mediterranean to work directly with their French counterparts.
They will be in “direct contact” with the French aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle and will “cooperate with their French allies”, Vladimir Putin said, after a phone conversation with François Hollande.
We need to establish a direct link with the French and work with them as we do with our allies.
Separately, Germany’s foreign minister has ruled out taking part in any airstrikes in Syria.
“It doesn’t make sense if we add to the 16 nations which are carrying out air attacks,” Frank-Walter Steinmeier said.
Steinmeier said Germany’s decision to provide weapons and military equipment to Kurdish fighters battling Isis in northern Iraq “was the right strategy”.
Updated
Police in Paris have given an update on the anti-terror raids in the region since Friday’s attacks.
- 104 police raids
- 16 people have been arrested
- Six firearms have been seized
Police said the arrests and raids are targeting “people, arms and objects likely to be linked to activities of a terrorist nature”.
The arrests and seizures may well not be directly connected to the attacks on Friday, however.
Updated
The Élysée Palace has announced that François Hollande will travel to Washington to meet Barack Obama on 24 November.
He will visit Moscow to meet Vladimir Putin two days later, on 26 November.
Updated
The French magazine Le Nouvel Observateur has pointed to an interesting connection between a statement put out by Isis the day after the attacks, and a black Renault Clio discovered this morning that is suspected to have been rented by Salah Abdeslam, the suspect still at large.
-
Isis spoke of attacks at the “Stade de France, in the 10th, 11th and 18th arrondissements”.
-
There was no attack in the 18th arrondissement but the discovery of the car with a Belgian number plate this morning has led the newspaper to speculate whether there is a connection and if another attack had been planned.
A police source told AFP earlier: “A black Clio, found in Albert Kahn Place in the 18th arrondissement, could have been used prior to the attacks..
“This car was seen on the A1 motorway and could have been part of preliminary operations between Paris and Belgium.”
Updated
Two more arrests in Germany linked to Paris attacks
Police have arrested two more people in Alsdorf, a police statement said, giving no more details. It brings the total arrested here to five.
Earlier today, three other people – two women and a man – were arrested outside a job centre in the small German town near the Belgian border.
A spokesman said the three were foreign citizens but gave no more information.
There is still no confirmation that the individuals have any link to the Paris attacks. German news site Spiegel Online said the police operation was sparked after a supermarket employee believed he had spotted someone resembling Salah Abdeslam.
Updated
Men in Belgium 'admit picking up terror suspect from Paris'
Two men who have been charged in Belgium with terror offences have admitted picking up the Paris attack suspect, Salah Abdeslam, from the French capital early on Friday morning, but deny aiding the bombers.
Lawyers for the two suspects, now named as Mohammed Amri, 27, and Hamza Attou, 21, said they deny any involvement in the attacks. Both men are being held on charges of terrorist murder and conspiracy.
Amri’s lawyer, Xavier Carrette, said Amri went to Paris early on Saturday to pick up Salah Abdeslam. The only thing Amri admits “is having been in France to pick up a friend”, Carrette told AP.
Carine Couquelet, who represents Attou, said he had been the passenger in the car owned by Amri, and went along to keep him company.
They picked up Abdeslam at about 4am on Saturday and returned to Brussels, Couquelet said.
Neither lawyer would confirm reports in Belgian media that Amri and Attou are being investigated as potential suppliers of the suicide bombs used in Friday’s attacks, after ammonium nitrate, a fertiliser that can be used to make explosives, was reportedly discovered in a search of their residence.
Salah Abdeslam’s brother, Brahim, was the suicide bomber who blew himself up outside the Comptoir Voltaire restaurant. A third brother, Mohamed, was also arrested but was released without charge yesterday.
Updated
Belgium has announced more troops will be on the streets to help secure its cities following Friday’s attacks – with more than 500 soldiers patrolling public areas.
Three hundred more soldiers will be on the streets, as French and Belgian police continue the hunt for Brussels-born Salah Abdeslam, who is still on the run after being named as wanted in connection with the attacks. Two of the suicide bombers named so far were Frenchmen resident in Belgium.
Two men are being held in connection with the Paris attacks after accompanying Abdeslam back to Belgium from France, we reported earlier.
The men from Molenbeek in Brussels are quoted in La Libre Belgique as saying they had no idea what Abdeslam had been doing in Paris when they received a call from him at 2am and picked him up in a Volkswagen Golf at about 5am in the Barbès district of the French capital.
Updated
The England football manager, Roy Hodgson, has given a press conference in French ahead of tonight’s international friendly against France at Wembley.
Several British newspapers have printed the words of the French national anthem, the Marseillaise, and they will appear on big screens around the stadium tonight.
Tuesday's Daily Mirror back page: La Marseillaise #tomorrowspaperstoday #bbcpapers pic.twitter.com/oBIqozs4Jy
— Nick Sutton (@suttonnick) November 16, 2015
“I hope the fact that we have published the Marseillaise will encourage the public to join in and sing. It’s the one thing we can do,” Hodgson said.
Updated
A Twitter account @ParisVictims, set up by the website Mashable, has been tweeting tributes, once every hour, to the victims of Friday’s attacks, describing the lives of those who were murdered.
Matthieu Giroud, 39, France. Loved music & football. Leaves behind a 3-year-old boy & a pregnant wife. #enmémoire pic.twitter.com/ItxAgzPUPP
— En mémoire (@ParisVictims) November 17, 2015
Claire Camax, 35, France. An illustrator and graphic artist. Friends called her "radiant." #enmémoire pic.twitter.com/Et7ZOagb6Z
— En mémoire (@ParisVictims) November 17, 2015
Ludovic Boumbas, 40, DR Congo. Loved music, movies and flowers. “One of life’s good people." #enmémoire pic.twitter.com/2qVBCfLgrd
— En mémoire (@ParisVictims) November 17, 2015
Mathias Dymarski, France. Rode BMX bikes and died with his girlfriend. #enmémoire pic.twitter.com/IxkryzEbcw
— En mémoire (@ParisVictims) November 16, 2015
This moving video of Graham Satchell, an experienced BBC reporter, shows the moment he was overcome with emotion during a live interview from Paris.
Satchell was speaking from one of the memorials in the Place de La République for BBC Breakfast when his voice cracked.
He tried to carry on but found it too much. He had been talking about the nightly vigils around Paris and the sense of hope he had seen since Friday’s massacres.
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What we know so far
‘Safe houses’ and vehicles investigated
- A black Renault Clio is the third car found in Paris with Belgian numberplates that may be linked to the attacks – the vehicle was reportedly hired by Abdeslam.
- Investigators now believe that two safe houses in the Paris suburbs were used by Friday night’s attackers.
- A room in Appart’City Alfortville, a hotel in southern Paris, was booked in the name of Salah Abdeslam, the attack suspect currently on the run, from 11-17 November.
- The second location, raided by police on Sunday night, is in the north-eastern suburb of Bobigny, not far from the Stade de France.
Suspects tracked and arrests made
- German police in the Belgian border town of Aachen have arrested two women and one man in an operation linked to the attacks last Friday.
- British police have detained two men for terrorism offences as they tried to leave the country via Dover, but said the arrests were not linked to attacks in Paris.
- The suspect Abdeslam travelled to Austria from Germany in September for unknown reasons, the country’s interior minister has said.
- The voice on an Isis video distributed via social media after the attacks has reportedly been identified as that of Fabien Clain, a French citizen from Toulouse who has been active on the Islamist scene and is based in Raqqa.
Kerry in Paris
- The US secretary of state, John Kerry, said he had discussed how the two nations would strengthen their cooperation to combat Islamic State during a brief meeting with François Hollande.
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Kerry said that he hoped a ceasefire between Syria’s government and opposition could be just weeks away.
France calls for EU help following Paris attacks
- The French defence minister, Jean-Yves Le Drian, has made a formal request for help from his country’s EU partners, the first time the mutual assistance article in the European Union’s treaty has been invoked.
- EU economic affairs commissioner, Pierre Moscovici, has told a news conference that France will suffer no penalties for missing budgetary targets, in order to spend more on security.
French police launch fresh raids overnight
- The searches were conducted as part of the state of emergency, Cazeneuve said, without giving further details, although the searches are not believed to be directly related to the investigation into Friday’s attacks.
New round of airstrikes against Isis
- The French military dropped 16 bombs on Isis targets in the stronghold of Raqqa, hitting a command centre and a training centre, the country’s defence ministry has said.
- Russia’s intelligence agency has announced that traces of explosives were found in the plane that crashed en route from Sharm el-Sheikh. The FSB is offering an enormous $50m reward for information that leads to the capture of those who planned the bomb attack.
- Russia also staged airstrikes on Raqqa in northern Syria, US and French officials have said.
- RAF Tornado fighter jets have bombed a large group of more than 30 Isis terrorists attacking Kurdish forces in northern Iraq, the Ministry of Defence has said.
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UK police have detained two men for terrorism offences as they tried to leave the country, but said the arrests were not linked to attacks in Paris, AFP reports.
Police said the men, aged 22 and 20, were arrested early on Sunday at the ferry terminal in Dover.
“I would firstly like to confirm these arrests are not linked to the Paris terrorist incidents and there is no immediate threat to the local community,” said Ian Hunter, head of investigations at the south-east counter-terrorism unit.
“These men were trying to leave the UK via Dover and were arrested following good work by Kent police officers at the port.”
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More on the German arrests, from German news channel n-tv.
Police spokesman Werner Schneider confirmed the trio were arrested Tuesday morning by a Swat team in Alsdorf, just north-east of Aachen and near the border with Belgium.
Schneider said on n-tv that it was “much too early to go into detail” about the identity of those arrested, but said they were foreign nationals.
He said police were conducting searches in the area.
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(This is crossposted from Andrew Sparrow’s politics live blog)
David Cameron is getting closer than ever to calling a Commons vote on extending military action against Islamic State in Syria. That is the key thing we learnt from his opening statement.
He did not formally commit himself to a vote, and the problems remain substantial (namely, a substantial number of Tories are sceptical, and if Labour MPs follow Jeremy Corbyn and vote against, he cannot be sure there will be enough Labour “rebels” voting for military action to outnumber those voting against).
But Cameron sounded more determined than ever to get a vote. And he said the Paris attacks had made the case for military action stronger.
It is in Syria, in Raqqa, that Isil has its headquarters and it is from Raqqa that some of the main threat against this country are planned and orchestrated. Raqqa, if you like, is the head of the snake. Over Syria we are supporting our allies the US, France, Jordan and the Gulf countries with intelligence, with surveillance and with refuelling. But I believe, as I have said many times before, we should be doing more. We face a direct and growing threat to our country and we need to deal with it not just in Iraq but in Syria too ...
The case for doing so has only grown stronger after the Paris attacks. We cannot expect, we should not expect, others to carry the burdens and risks of protecting our country.
He also said he would be placing his personal authority behind the government response to the recent foreign affairs committee report (pdf) on this. That response will come very soon and it will effectively set out his case to the Commons for bombing Isis in Syria.
I can therefore announce that ... I will respond personally to the report of the foreign affairs select committee, I will set out our comprehensive strategy for dealing with [Isis], our vision for a more stable and peaceful Middle East.
Follow the reaction to his statement here:
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France’s justice minister, Christiane Taubira, has praised teams and staff for saving lives during the terror attacks at the Stade de France on Friday.
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Two women and one man arrested in German police swoop linked to Paris attack
German police in Aachen, close to the Belgian border, have arrested two women and one man in an operation reportedly linked to the attacks last Friday.
“After [receiving] leads, we arrested two women and one man,” a spokeswoman for Aachen police told AP on Tuesday. We still do not know the name or nationality of those involved.
Newspaper Aachener Zeitung reported the arrests took place in Alsdorf, a small town near Aachen, quoting witnesses who said German police made the arrests close to the job centre on Joseph von Fraunhofer Strasse.
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The Eiffel Tower has closed again, just one day after reopening following the Paris attacks.
Marthe Ozbolt, the spokeswoman for the tourist attraction, confirmed to AP that the tower did not open this morning but did not give a reason.
The landmark has been lit red, white and blue in the colours of the French tricolour, like many buildings around the world. It was shut for the weekend in the aftermath of Friday’s attacks.
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Paris’s Muslim community has organised a rally outside the city’s Grand mosque, starting in a few minutes, “to express their deep attachment to Paris, its diversity and the values of the republic”.
A statement from the mosque said:
The gathering of all citizens is necessary and the best response to those who wish to instil fear and divide our society.
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The EU economic affairs commissioner, Pierre Moscovici, has told a news conference that France will suffer no penalties for missing budgetary targets, in order to spend more on security.
Moscovici, the former French finance minister, said the tough budgetary rules imposed by Brussels after the eurozone debt crisis were “neither rigid nor stupid, they are capable of dealing with situations.
“It is in that spirit that we are in discussions with the French government.”
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The French prime minister, Manuel Valls, said he is “haunted” by the attacks in Paris on Friday.
Speaking after a meeting with party colleagues, Valls said:
I am deeply affected by these events. I am haunted by them. We will pursue this investigation like never before.
This will take time but we will be strong. We know that at any moment we could suffer another attack.
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The British prime minister, David Cameron, has been speaking about the Paris attacks in the House of Commons.
Cameron says Britain “should be doing more” against Isis in Syria and that the case for action has grown stronger since Paris.
Follow my colleague Andrew Sparrow’s politics live blog for more, as well as reaction from the Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn.
Cameron, along with Prince William, is set to attend tonight’s football match at Wembley, where England will play France in a friendly.
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Russia informed Washington as it ramped up its airstrikes on Syria, using sea-launched cruise missiles and long-range bombers, a US defence official has said.
The strikes did in part target the Isis stronghold of Raqqa, the official told AP, and he stressed that there was no coordination between the two countries.
The US secretary of state, John Kerry, has been speaking again to reporters at the American ambassador’s residence in Paris, where he said he hoped a ceasefire between Syria’s government and opposition could be just weeks away.
He said a political process agreed in principle during peace talks in Vienna on Saturday was a “gigantic step”.
If we can get that done, that opens up the aperture for a whole bunch of things. We’re weeks away conceivably from the possibility of a big transition for Syria, and I don’t think enough people necessarily notice that. But that’s the reality.
We are not talking about months, we are talking about weeks hopefully.
Kerry hopes a ceasefire would leave nations free to concentrate on supporting opposition factions against Isis. He continued:
Out of this event in Paris will come an even greater level of vigilance and cooperation in some places that may have been a little bit less concerned about things hitting them in certain parts of the world.
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Three arrests in Germany linked to Paris attack - police
German police have told local media three people have been arrested near the western city of Aachen in connection with the Paris attacks.
The city is on the Belgian border, about two hours’ drive from Brussels, where police have been hunting suspect Salah Abdeslam.
According to the DPA news agency, three people have been arrested in Alsdorf, north-east of the city.
“We have received indications that one of the fugitives related [to the attacks in] Paris may be staying in our area,” a police spokesman told DPA.
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The Guardian’s Paris correspondent, Kim Willsher, has more detail on the Frenchman who appears on the Islamic State video referencing the Paris attacks.
Fabien Clain, 35, was linked to Mohamed Merah, the man who gunned down three soldiers before attacking a Jewish school in Toulouse in 2012, killing three children and a rabbi. Both lived in Toulouse.
He is also linked to the attempted attack on a church in Villejuif, a southern suburub in Paris, that was aborted on 19 April because the attacker, Sid Ahmed Ghlam, 24, shot himself in the leg and had to call the emergency services.
Clain is said to have come originally from the French island of Réunion in the Indian Ocean. Also known as Omar, he has been known to the French intelligence services since 2001, along with his brother Jean-Michel, 33.
The brothers converted to Islam and ran a small group of Salafist militants known as the Belphégor clan, many of them fellow converts from the housing estates of Toulouse. Their wives, French converts, wore the burka.
In 2003, the pair moved briefly to Utrecht in the Netherlands, where they are said to have distributed Islamic literature. The following year they left with their wives for Egypt, where they studied in a Qur’anic school. They joined jihadi groups in 2003 after the invasion of Iraq, though it is believed they never actually made it to that country.
Banned from Toulouse and from 22 other French departments, Clain eventually moved back to Normandy. Both brothers disappeared, to Syria it is believed, some time in 2014.
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The two safe houses
Investigators now believe that two safe houses in the Paris suburbs were used by Friday night’s attackers.
Alfortville
A room in Appart’City Alfortville, a hotel in southern Paris, was booked in the name of Salah Abdeslam from 11-17 November.
Abdeslam, the brother of the man police named as the Comptoir Voltaire suicide bomber, is wanted by French police in connection with the attacks.
Hotel in Alfortville Paris where wanted terror suspect Salah Abdeslam rented 2 rooms. He is still on run. pic.twitter.com/lWneV34pWp
— Jonathan Rugman (@jrug) November 17, 2015
French newspaper Le Point released a video that it claims shows the drab hotel room, which typically costs €37 a night. The hotel had no CCTV, but police claimed to have found DNA at the site, according to the magazine.
As well as syringes and pizza boxes, Le Point claims to have found half-eaten chocolate madeleines, as well as syringes and tubes.
Police are running tests to determine if the needles were used to construct explosives or if they were for hypodermic injections, Le Point reported.
Contacted by the Guardian, the hotel’s owner denied any knowledge of the men staying at the hotel.
Bobigny
The second location, raided by police on Sunday night, is in the north-eastern suburb of Bobigny, not far from the Stade de France.
The flat in Bobigny north Paris where authorities believe last days of planning terror plot may have taken place pic.twitter.com/fU1ZWcxbq5
— Lisa Millar (@LisaMillar) November 17, 2015
Liberation claims that Brahim Abdeslam, Salah’s brother, booked the house from 10-17 November through the website Homelidays.
Police recovered mobile phones still in their packaging.
As we reported earlier, the three men who stayed at the house told the property’s owner they were from a Belgian security company.
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French citizen 'identified' as voice on Islamic State video
According to German weekly Der Spiegel, French authorities have found further evidence indicating that the Paris attacks were orchestrated from Syria.
The voice on an Isis video distributed via social media after the attacks has reportedly been identified as that of Fabien Clain, a French citizen from Toulouse who has been active on the Islamist scene and is based in Raqqa.
Born in 1980, Clain has been based in Syria since February 2011, where he is thought to be part of a cell that regularly produces and distributes Isis propaganda.
According to Spiegel sources, Clain’s journey to radical Islam started in the late 1990s: after 9/11, he and his brother founded a Salafist group, but were arrested when they tried to move to Iraq in 2009.
He moved to Syria after his release in 2014.
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We reported earlier on a third car found in Paris with Belgian numberplates that investigators believe may be linked to the attacks
The black Renault Clio, found in northern Paris’s 18th arrondissement, was parked across a pedestrian crossing, close to the train line that runs to the Stade de France, which was targeted by three bombers on Friday.
The Liberation reporter, Willy Le Devin, says he has confirmed the Clio was in the name of Salah Abdeslam, the suspect currently on the run. We are yet to get police confirmation of this.
Confirmation : la Clio noire retrouvée dans 18è a été louée au nom de Salah Abdeslam #AttentatsParis
— Willy Le Devin (@Will_ld) November 17, 2015
“The car was seen on the A1 motorway as part of what may have been preparatory contacts between groups in Paris and Belgium,” a police source told AFP.
It has since been towed away by police for further examination.
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Salah Abdeslam, the suspect still at large from Friday’s attacks in Paris, travelled to Austria from Germany in September for unknown reasons, Austria’s interior minister has told the country’s ORF radio. Reuters has the story.
“One of the presumed culprits entered Austria from Germany in September,” Austria’s interior minister, Johanna Mikl-Leitner, told ORF.
“Now the question is where did he stay in Austria, and for what purpose. The investigative work is fully under way.”
ORF said Abdeslam attracted attention during a vehicle check in early September.
“He said he was going on holiday in Vienna, but there are no further details yet,” Mikl-Leitner said.
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UK bombers target Islamic State in Iraq
RAF Tornado fighter jets have bombed a large group of more than 30 Isis terrorists attacking Kurdish forces in northern Iraq, the Ministry of Defence has said.
A Tornado G4 patrol “guided” a Paveway bomb target at a group of more than 30 fighters near Sinjar, the MoD statement said.
The first flight used a Paveway bomb to destroy a mortar position which had opened fire on the Kurds [who are fighting on the ground in the region].
The following mission destroyed a heavy machine gun near Mosul with a Paveway IV, then proceeded west towards Sinjar.
There was heavy cloud, which may have encouraged the terrorists to assume that they were safe from air attack, but, working very closely with the Kurdish forces, the GR4s were able to guide a Paveway on to a large group of over 30 Daesh terrorists who were massing for a counterattack; the Kurdish unit subsequently reported that the airstrike had been highly effective.
The Tornado patrol then destroyed another Isil mortar position south-west of Sinjar.
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Belgian police have issued a new wanted notice for Salah Abdeslam, the wanted brother of one of the Paris attackers.
Un avis de recherche a été lancé par la Police fédérale à l’encontre de M. Salah Abdeslam https://t.co/AkZ17TucWu pic.twitter.com/JNt34TLi6Q
— CrisisCenter Belgium (@CrisiscenterBE) November 16, 2015
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France’s environment minister, Ségolène Royal, has announced she will ask French rail operator SNCF to investigate installing security controls at train stations.
“I asked SNCF to look into putting into place these measures so that there are the same type of checks as there are for getting on to planes,” BFMTV quoted her as saying. Royal’s ministerial portfolio also includes transport.
It is done for international trains and I think it could also be done for trains in France.
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After Paris attacks, Hungary to challenge refugee quota at ECJ
Hungary’s parliament has said it will mount a legal challenge to the EU’s mandatory quota scheme to resettle 160,000 refugees around Europe.
The justice minister, László Trócsányi, said the challenge will be filed at the European Court of Justice in early December.
The bill setting out the legal challenge, which passed through the Hungarian parliament this morning, said the quota “ignores the principle of subsidiarity and fails to grant national parliaments the opportunity to express their opinion”.
Hungary, Czech Republic, Slovakia and Romania all voted against the imposition of quotas in September.
Slovakia and Poland’s governments have also said in recent days that the plan is no longer viable after the Paris attacks. Britain has exercised its opt-out on the scheme.
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Alfortville hotel 'used by suspect' - report
French newspaper Le Point has released a video which it claims shows the hotel room used by the Paris attack terrorists - and which was booked by Salah Abdeslam using his credit card - from the night before the attack.
Abdeslam, the brother of the man police named as the Comptoir Voltaire suicide bomber, is wanted by French police in connection with the attacks.
The video shows a drab hotel room in Alfortville, a suburb of southern Paris, which is littered with syringes and pizza boxes.
The newspaper claims that Abdeslam booked two rooms at the hotel, two days before the attacks in Paris. The hotel had no CCTV, but police claimed to have found DNA at the site, according to the magazine.
As well as syringes and pizza boxes, Le Point claims to have found needles and tubes. Police are running tests to determine whether the needles were used to construct explosives or if they were for hypodermic injections, Le Point reported.
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The Guardian’s Europe editor, Ian Traynor in Brussels, has more on the French demand for EU assistance.
Jean-Yves Le Drian, the French defence minister, delivered the demand at a meeting in Brussels of EU defence ministers and the call was backed unanimously, although it remains unclear what it will ultimately entail.
“It’s a political act, a political message,” said Federica Mogherini, the EU’s foreign and security policy coordinator.
Each member state would contribute to helping France in line with their capabilities and foreign policies, she added.
The details would be developed in a set of bilateral talks between national governments and France.
Le Drian admitted that the emergency security measures being taken in France following Friday’s atrocities meant the country was overstretched and overexposed through its operations in the Sahel and Lebanon as well as in the fight against Isis in Syria and Iraq.
“France can’t do everything. It can’t act alone,” he said.
“Every country said I am going to help you. That can take different forms.”
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Bataclan 'like something from Dante's hell', policeman says
The Guardian’s senior international correspondent, Luke Harding, is outside the Bataclan, where the bloodiest of Friday’s attacks took place.
The road around the Bataclan theatre reopened this morning for the first time since Friday’s massacre, as more details emerged of the police operation against the terrorists.
A screen still hid the front of the concert hall from view, but Parisians were able to leave flowers, and pictures of those killed, in the green square immediately opposite.
Le Monde newspaper said that at 10pm the first police officer at the scene went into the auditorium and confronted one of the terrorists. He shot at him and the terrorist’s explosive belt went off.
It was unclear if he’d blown himself up, or the policeman’s bullet had ignited the belt.
The scene on the ground floor was “like something from Dante’s hell”, one officer told the paper, with dozens of bodies lying on the ground.
There was silence, apart from the ringing of mobile phones. Some people had survived by playing dead; others had hidden in the building, including in a false ceiling.
At 10.15pm two groups of 20 armed elite officers from France’s rapid intervention brigade went up on to the balcony in a pincer movement, via two staircases. Two of the terrorists had holed up in a room there.
They shouted to police that they had taken several hostages, and were prepared to decapitate them. They talked of “Syria”, the paper said.
Police were given orders at 12.20am to storm the corridor where the two surviving terrorists had taken cover. They threw a dozen stun grenades, then advanced behind a Kevlar shield.
The terrorist fired back, in disciplined bursts. The police then saw the “shadow” of one terrorist collapsing; the other blew himself up. Le Monde reported that the shield was hit 30 times.
Bouclier de tête de la BRI lors de l'assaut au Bataclan (document @20Minutes) #ParisAttacks #AttentatsParis pic.twitter.com/wlwmGrDN6w
— William Molinié (@WilliamMolinie) November 16, 2015
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We have some more detail as France invokes an EU treaty provision requesting mutual assistance from other EU countries.
The French defence minister, Jean-Yves Le Drian, said EU partners could help “either by taking part in France’s operations in Syria or Iraq, or by easing the load or providing support for France in other operations.”
“France cannot act alone in these theatres,” Le Drian told fellow EU defence ministers during a meeting in Brussels, according to aides.
France is the first nation to invoke article 42.7 in the treaty, which requires all states to offer aid and assistance “as they are able”.
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Third car with Belgian plates linked to attack investigation
Police sources have told AFP they have found a car that could have been used in preparation for Friday night’s attacks in Paris.
The Guardian’s Kim Willsher in Paris says the car is reported to have a Belgian number plate.
“A black Clio, found in Albert Kahn Square in the 18th arrondissement, could have been used prior to the attacks,” the police source is reported as saying.
“This car was seen on the A1 motorway and could have been part of preliminary operations between Paris and Belgium.”
The area surrounding the square has been cordoned off by police.
Situation calme boulevard Ornano. Quartier bouclé autour de la place. Une voiture examinée semble-t-il. pic.twitter.com/wJTmE25ohN
— Benoit F. (@benoitfuric) November 17, 2015
Cette Clio immatriculée en Belgique a-t-elle été utilisée par les terroristes le 13/11 à Paris ? #paris18 pic.twitter.com/F3JYKQ1U6M
— Dixhuitinfo.com (@Dixhuitinfo) November 17, 2015
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Russian airstrikes target Raqqa - French source
Russia staged airstrikes on Raqqa in northern Syria as French bombers also targeted the Isis stronghold, a senior French government source has told Reuters.
“At this moment, the Russians are in the process of strongly hitting the city of Raqqa, which is proof that they too are becoming conscious [of the threat from Isis],” the source said.
Putin announced this morning that Russia would intensify its strikes in Syria after the Russian intelligence service said it had found conclusive proof that a bomb had brought down the Metrojet airliner in Egypt’s Sinai peninsula, carrying Russian tourists from Sharm el-Sheikh.
The activist group Raqqa is Being Slaughtered Silently, which works against Isis, said airstrikes had indeed hit the city early this morning.
#BREAKING Another new Airstrike on #Raqqa so its 7 Airstrikes until now #Syria #ISIS
— الرقة تذبح بصمت (@Raqqa_SL) November 17, 2015
#Raqqa Most of the Airstrikes on the south side of the city #Syria #ISIS
— الرقة تذبح بصمت (@Raqqa_SL) November 17, 2015
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The name on the Syrian passport found near the Stade de France could be a soldier who fought for Bashar al-Assad and died several months ago, a source close to the investigation has alleged to AFP.
The passport is in the name of Ahmad Almohammad, born on 10 September 1990 in Idlib, north-west Syria. The source intimated to AFP that it is difficult to draw firm conclusions from the identity in the passport.
Separately, a MailOnline reporter has claimed he only needed four days and $2,000 to purchase a replica of the passport found in Paris.
As we reported last night, Serbian police have arrested a man carrying a Syrian passport with the same details as one found near the body of one of the Paris suicide bombers.
Police sources told the Guardian the passport bears the same name and details – but a different photograph – as the document found near one of the men who attacked the Stade de France.
Serbian officials said they believe both passports are fake, but added they are working with French investigators to establish the origin of the documents.
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The French satirical magazine, Charlie Hebdo, whose offices were attacked in January and 12 of their staff killed, have released the front page of their latest issue.
They have weapons. We don’t mind, we have champagne.
Its editor-in-chief, Laurent Sourisseau, also known as Riss, wrote: “Without realising it, Parisians in 2015 have become like the Londoners of the 1940s, determined not to give in to fear no matter what. It’s the only response we can show to terrorists.”
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France calls for EU help following Paris attacks
The French defence minister, Jean-Yves Le Drian, has made a formal request for help from his country’s EU partners, the first time the mutual assistance article in the European Union’s treaty has been invoked.
“In Brussels, I have just invoked Article 42.7,” he tweeted at the EU defence ministers meeting.
The EU’s Lisbon treaty says that in the case of “armed aggression” EU countries have “an obligation of aid and assistance by all means in their power”.
Le Drian is due to give a news conference later today.
A Bruxelles, je viens d'invoquer à l'instant l'article 42.7 au nom de la France #UE pic.twitter.com/w1ygZ7KaPW
— Jean-Yves Le Drian (@JY_LeDrian) November 17, 2015
“France would like to ask its European partners for their bilateral support in the fight against Daesh in Iraq and Syria as well as increased military participation from member states in operational theatres where France is deployed,” an EU aide has told AFP.
Despite intense speculation, France has not so far invoked the Nato article 5, which guarantees military support to an ally under attack.
That part of the treaty gives all signatories the right to wage war as an act of self-defence, under the UN charter.
It has only been invoked once - after 9/11 by the US.
Updated
The man who helped a young woman who was pictured hanging from a window ledge at the Bataclan concert hall in Paris as terrorists massacred those inside has reportedly spoken about what happened.
Identified only as “Sebastian”, he told a French newspaper how he had pulled the woman inside as gunmen moved around inside the theatre.
The woman, who has not been identified but is believed to have survived, was captured on mobile phone footage, in which she can be heard shouting: “Help, help, I’m pregnant, catch me if I fall.”
Here’s the full report, written by my colleague Ben Quinn.
The US secretary of state, John Kerry, said he had discussed how the two nations would strengthen their cooperation to combat Islamic State during a brief meeting with François Hollande.
Isis (aka Daesh) is losing territory, and airstrikes have taken out leaders and helped fighters on the ground liberate communities, he said.
We agreed to exchange more information and I’m convinced that over the course of the next weeks, Daesh will feel greater pressure. They are feeling it today. They felt it yesterday. They felt it in the past weeks. We gained more territory. Daesh has less territory.
“There is a clear strategy in place,” he said, echoing the rhetoric of Barack Obama’s speech to the G20 yesterday. “Step by step I’m confident momentum will pick up.
“Paris, which knows how to rebound, will do so,” he continued, reaffirming his commitment to attend the COP21 climate change summit in Paris with Obama.
The summit would be an “important statement by the world that no one will disrupt the business of the global community, especially not despicable acts of terror”.
Updated
Reuters is live-streaming the press statement from the US secretary of state, John Kerry, at the Elysee Palace in Paris, where he has just met Hollande.
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Here’s John Kerry speaking as he arrived in Paris last night, promising “fierce solidarity”.
The French president, François Hollande, has just met the US secretary of state, John Kerry, at the Elysee Palace in Paris.
We’re expecting to hear from Kerry shortly.
Updated
France’s interior minister, Bernard Cazeneuve, speaking on French radio earlier, said “the majority of those who were involved in this attack were unknown to our services.”
Here are the suspects sought across Europe:
- Serbian authorities have arrested a man with a Syrian passport matching one found near the body of a Paris attacker.
- French forces raided the north-eastern city of Strasbourg, after witnesses claimed to have seen fugitive suspect Salah Abdeslam. The raid did not yield Abdeslam.
- Two of the seven people detained in Belgium on Saturday are being held on terrorism charges, Belgian federal prosecutors have said. Five have been released, including the brother of two of the suspected attackers.
- After being released by Belgian police along with five others, Mohamed Abdeslam said his family is unaware of his brother (fugitive suspect) Salah’s whereabouts.
- German authorities have arrested an Algerian asylum seeker, who they allege told associates early last week that bomb attacks were coming to Paris.
The Paris attack suspects named so far:
Omar Ismaïl Mostefai, 29, Bataclan theatre
Mostefai was the first suicide attacker named by French authorities, identified by prints taken from a severed finger. A Turkish official has told the Guardian that Turkey twice tipped off French authorities about Mostefai but only received an information request about him after the Paris attacks.
Samy Amimour, 28, Bataclan theatre
Detained in October 2012 on suspicion of “associating with terrorists” and planning to leave for Yemen, and held for four days. He went to Syria in September 2013, violating his parole.
An unidentified third man was shot by security forces in the Bataclan
Bilal Hadfi, 20, Stade de France
French but living in Neder-over-Heembeek, Belgium, he became quickly radicalised last year. Went to fight in Syria and then returned to Belgium earlier this year.
“Ahmad Almohammad”, 25, Stade de France
The name of a 25-year-old from Idlib, north-west Syria, on a forged Syrian passport found near one of the bodies of the attackers at the Stade de France. The fingerprints of an attacker matched those taken from a man who passed through Greece in October but reports from Serbia say another man has been detained there with an identical passport, suggesting that several may be in circulation.
The third suicide bomber to die outside the Stade de France is yet to be identified.
Ibrahim Abdeslam, 31, Comptoir Voltaire
Ibrahim, also known as Brahim Abdeslam, died at the Comptoir Voltaire cafe after detonating his suicide vest, according to French prosecutors, and was a French national living in the Brussels district of Molenbeek.
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'$50m reward for information' on Sinai aircraft bomb attack
The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, has ordered the Russian air force to intensify its airstrikes in Syria after his security services confirmed a bomb brought the Metrojet airliner down in the Sinai.
It must be intensified in such a way that the criminals understand that retribution is inevitable.
We will search for them everywhere wherever they are hiding. We will find them anywhere on the planet and punish them.
Russian news agency Interfax reports that the FSB is offering an enormous $50m reward for information that leads to the capture of those who planned the bomb attack.
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A woman who rented a house to Brahim Abdeslam, one of the Paris attackers named by French prosecutors, has described the men she met as “nice and proper”.
She told French broadcaster Europe 1 that a group of men rented her house in the north-eastern Paris suburb of Bobigny on Tuesday 10 November, three days before launching a wave of attacks on the French capital.
They were very kind. There was nothing noticeable about them. They were nice, proper, well dressed.
They didn’t have beards and were wearing normal clothes.
They all said they worked for a Belgian company and were in Paris on business.
[Correction: We had 10 October previously, but it is November. Apologies for this.]
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The FSB’s Alexander Bortnikov said investigators had studied the personal belongings, baggage and debris from the aircraft.
An improvised bomb, packed with 1kg of TNT, exploded in mid-air which explained the spread of the aircraft’s parts over a large distance, he told the meeting.
The announcement is the first time the Kremlin has acknowledged a bomb brought down the plane.
Last week, Britain’s foreign secretary, Philip Hammond, said there was a “high probability” that a bomb planted by an Islamic State supporter brought down the Russian airliner.
It may have been an individual who was inspired by Isis who was self-radicalised by looking at Isis propaganda and was acting in the name of Isis without necessarily being directed.
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The Russian announcement on the Sinai crash comes from a meeting between Alexander Bortnikov, the head of Russia’s FSB security service, and President Vladimir Putin. He told the Russian president:
One can unequivocally say that it was a terrorist act.
The transcript has been posted on the Kremlin website in the last few minutes, in Russian.
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Alain Juppé, the former French prime minister who served under Jacques Chirac, has criticised the decision to scrap tens of thousands of jobs in the security services before 2012.
He welcomed François Hollande’s decision to create 8,500 more jobs, telling BFMTV:
What we need is on the one hand political influence and on the other, intervention from people.
Creating 8,500 police and security jobs is the right thing to do. We were undoubtedly wrong in 2012 to scrap tens of thousands of jobs.
Terrorist bomb caused Egypt plane crash, Russia announces
Russia’s intelligence agency has announced that traces of explosives were found in the plane that crashed en route from Sharm el-Sheikh.
The FSB said a bomb went off in the Metrojet airliner which crashed in the Sinai, killing 224 people, as it headed for St Petersburg. It crashed as a result of a “terrorist act”, the head of the service said.
Russian investigators had found evidence of explosives in the debris, the agency said. Putin has now ordered Russian security services to direct their attention to finding those responsible, Reuters reported.
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The French prime minister, Manuel Valls, said France would exceed its European Union budget deficit target because of increased spending on security.
The deficit target would “necessarily be exceeded”, he told France Inter radio, in order to fulfil President Hollande’s pledge on Monday to create 10,000 jobs in the police and gendarmes, as well as boosting the resources of the security services.
Hollande also announced yesterday that he would seek changed to the French constitution to make it more effective in times of crisis. Valls said he hoped the change would pass.
I trust the opposition to act with a sense of responsibility and we hope that the constitutional reform is done through the Congress.
François Hollande would travel to Washington and Moscow next week to meet presidents Barack Obama and Vladimir Putin, Valls said.
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French police launch fresh raids overnight
Bernard Cazeneuve, the interior minister, told France Info this morning that 128 searches were conducted on Monday night.
The searches were conducted as part of the state of emergency, Cazeneuve said, without giving further details, although the searches are not believed to be directly related to the investigation into Friday’s attacks.
On Monday, raids across France resulted in 23 arrests and the seizure of 31 weapons, including a rocket launcher in Lyon.
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Fresh French bombardment of Islamic State targets in Raqqa
The French defence ministry has confirmed warplanes carried out fresh raids overnight against the Islamic State self-proclaimed capital of Raqqa in northern Syria, destroying a command centre and training centre.
For the second time in 24 hours the French military conducted an air raid against Daesh in Raqqa in Syria.
The raid was carried out just after midnight in western Europe, with 10 Rafale and Mirage 2000 fighters dropping 16 bombs, the ministry said.
Both targets were hit and destroyed simultaneously.
Conducted in coordination with US forces, the raid was aimed at sites identified during reconnaissance missions previously carried out by France.
On Monday, US President Barack Obama announced the United States and France have agreed to step up their exchange of intelligence on potential targets.
President François Hollande announced in a speech on Monday that France will deploy aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle on Thursday, which will triple its airstrike capacity.
What we know so far
From London, we are continuing our live coverage of the aftermath of Friday’s Paris attacks.
Here’s the latest news.
New round of airstrikes against Isis
- The French military dropped 16 bombs on Isis targets in the stronghold of Raqqa, hitting a command centre and a training centre, the country’s defence ministry said.
- US strikes earlier hit 116 oil trucks in Eastern Syria, the first attack of its kind since US-led forces began targeting Isis in Syria.
- The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, said he would back parts of the Syrian opposition with air support in a joint fight against Islamic State in northern Syria.
- The French president, François Hollande, said France would intensify strikes against Islamic State in the coming days, as France “was at war” with Isis
- John Kerry will meet with French President François Hollande tomorrow.
Arrests made and suspects tracked across Europe
- Serbian authorities have arrested a man with a Syrian passport matching one found near the body of a Paris attacker.
- French forces raided the north-eastern city of Strasbourg, after witnesses claimed to have seen fugitive suspect Salah Abdeslam.The raid did not yield Abdeslam.
UN, Obama hit back at worldwide calls to turn back refugees
- The UN has said that refusing refugees after the Paris attacks is not the “way to go”, as politicians in US, Canada and eastern Europe call to scale back plans to accept refugees.
- About 25 US state governors have resisted or refused to take Syrian refugees, but their legal right to do so has been called into question.
Belgium - Spain friendly football match cancelled
- Citing security concerns for players and fans, the Belgian football association announced Tuesday’s friendly match, scheduled to be played in Brussels, had been cancelled.
- The France - England match at Wembley stadium is going ahead, with vastly increased security.
