Summary
Here is what we now know, as investigations continue into the terror attacks in France:
- Prosecutors say seven attackers, in three groups, staged the six assaults across Paris on Friday evening, killing 129 people.
- 352 people were wounded, with 99 in critical condition. Victims have been identified from 15 different countries.
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The seven attackers also died in the attacks: six blew themselves up with suicide vests – the first-ever suicide bombings on French soil – and one was shot dead by police.
- One of the attackers has been named in French media as Omar Ismaïl Mostefai, a 29-year-old Frenchman from the southern Paris suburb of Courcouronnes. He had been flagged as being close to radical Islam, but had never been linked to terrorism. He was reportedly identified from police fingerprint records as one of the attackers at the Bataclan music venue.
- Mostefai’s brother and father and an unidentified woman have reportedly been taken into police custody, and their homes searched. Mostefai’s older brother told AFP before going to the police station that he had not had contact with his younger brother for several years:
It’s crazy, insane. I was in Paris myself last night, I saw what a mess it was.
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Three people were arrested at the Belgian border, the Paris prosecutor said, and Belgian police made several arrests after raids in Brussels.
- Investigators in France, Belgium, Greece and Germany are involved in efforts to identify the attackers and their network, but Greek authorities have told the Guardian that an earlier report that a second attacker had accessed Europe via Greece was incorrect.
Updated
In the space of a few minutes on Friday night, Paris was rocked by six deadly assaults. This account pieces together the sequence of events that left 129 people dead and hundreds injured, in the worst violence witnessed on French soil since the second world war:
Facebook has said that its safety check feature was used by 4.1 million people in Paris to notify friends and family on the social network that they were unharmed after the attacks.
The feature was switched on for users in Paris and its inner suburbs, and Facebook said around 85% of its users in that area used the feature.
Alex Schultz, Facebook’s vice-president of growth, posted to explain why the feature had been activated for the Paris attacks and not for Isis suicide bombings in Beirut on Thursday.
Schultz said the Paris attack was the first occasion that safety check had been used for an event other than a natural disaster, such as the Nepal earthquake:
During an ongoing crisis, like war or epidemic, Safety Check in its current form is not that useful for people: because there isn’t a clear start or end point and, unfortunately, it’s impossible to know when someone is truly ‘safe’ …
There has to be a first time for trying something new, even in complex and sensitive times, and for us that was Paris.
Investigators in France, Belgium, Greece and Germany are involved in efforts to identify the attackers and their network.
One has been identified in French media as Ismaïl Omar Mostefai, a 29-year-old Frenchman from the southern Paris suburb of Courcouronnes. He was reportedly identified from police fingerprint records as one of the attackers who blew themselves up at the Bataclan music venue.
Members of his family, including his father and brother, have been detained by police while their homes are searched.
Three other French nationals have been arrested in Belgium, where they all lived, in connection with the attacks.
Mostefai had been flagged as being close to radical Islam, but had never been linked to terrorism.
Paris police said the attackers appeared to be “seasoned, at first sight, and well trained” and were investigating whether they had ever been to fight in Syria.
President François Hollande said the attacks had been “prepared, organised and planned overseas, with help from inside [France]”.
As the US Democratic debate focuses on the fight against Isis, the Republican front-runner, Donald Trump, has used the Paris attacks to once again propound his theories on the problems of gun control.
At a rally in Texas on Saturday, he told supporters:
When you look at Paris, toughest gun laws in the world, nobody had guns but the bad guys.
And I will tell you what, you can say what you want, if they had guns, if our people had guns, if they were allowed to carry, it would have been a much, much different situation.
Updated
President François Hollande was in the Stade de France to watch the football match between the national team and Germany when news broke of the first of what would be three suicide explosions outside the stadium.
This series of images shows Hollande as he is informed of the news and moved out of the stadium.
In the final image he is seen taking a call about the unfolding emergency at 9.36pm – after the second Stade de France explosion, and at the moment when gunmen were firing at restaurant-goers in the 11th arrondissement.
It’s believed that Mostefai was the attacker referred to by the Paris prosecutor, François Molins, who told reporters on Saturday that one of the terrorists was a French national from the southern Paris suburb of Courcouronnes.
The man, born in 1985, had a criminal record and had been flagged as an extremist as early as 2010, the prosecutor said.
Attacker named as Ismaïl Omar Mostefai
One of the attackers has been named in French media as Ismaïl Omar Mostefai.
The 29-year-old Frenchman was identified from a finger found at the site of the Bataclan massacre, Agence France-Presse reports.
This apparently matched fingerprints on police files. Mostefai had a criminal record, but reportedly had not served time in jail.
The brother and father of Mostefai have been taken into police custody, and their homes have been searched.
Mostefai’s older brother reportedly told AFP before going to the police station that he had not had contact with his younger brother for several years:
It’s crazy, insane. I was in Paris myself last night, I saw what a mess it was.
Updated
France plans to go ahead with a global climate change summit in Paris at the end of the month despite a wave of deadly attacks that killed 129 people in the capital, Australian Associated Press reports.
The conference “will be held because it’s an essential meeting for humanity”, prime minister Manuel Valls told TF1 television. He said the summit would also be an opportunity for world leaders to show their solidarity with France after the attacks.
About 118 world leaders are expected to attend the opening day of the conference, which runs from 30 November to 11 December and is due to nail down a global deal to limit rising greenhouse gas emissions.
In Washington, officials confirmed that US president Barack Obama and secretary of state John Kerry still planned to attend. Overall, between 20,000 and 40,000 delegates are expected.
“Security at UN climate conferences is always tight but understandably it will be even tighter for Paris,” said Nick Nuttall, spokesman of the UN climate change secretariat in Bonn. The United Nations has the main responsibility for security inside the conference venue at Le Bourget, to the north of the capital.
Organisers of a march to press for climate action planned for Paris on 29 November, the eve of the summit, said they would meet on Monday “to discuss ways forward”, said Alice Jay, director of the citizens’ campaign group Avaaz and one of the organisers.
Where were the victims from?
As more information trickles in about Friday night’s attack, several overseas victims have been identified among the 129 deceased and 352 wounded, as well, of course, as many French people.
This list has been compiled from information from Associated Press, and numbers and details could change.
The victims
- Algeria: two Algerians were killed, the official APS news agency said, citing diplomatic sources as saying the victims were a woman aged 40 and a man aged 29.
- Belgium: At least three Belgians including a dual French national were killed, according to the Belgian foreign ministry.
- Brazil: two Brazilians were wounded in the attacks, president Dilma Rousseff said.
- Britain: one Briton was killed, identified as Nick Alexander. The UK foreign office has said “a handful” were feared dead.
- Chile: One man and a woman – the niece of Chile’s ambassador to Mexico – were among the dead.
- Mexico: two of its citizens lost their lives in the attacks on Friday night. Both held dual nationalities, the foreign ministry said on Saturday. One of the women who holds dual citizenship with the US, is suspected to be Nohemi Gonzalez.
- Morocco: one Moroccan has been killed and another injured, according to the embassy in France.
- Portugal: two Portuguese nationals are reported to have died, according to the Lisbon government. A 63-year-old national who lived in Paris and worked in public transport was killed near the Stade de France, while the second victim, killed at the Bataclan, was a dual-national born in France in 1980.
- Romania: two Romanians were killed, according to the foreign ministry in Bucharest.
- Spain: 29-year-old Alberto Gonzalez Garrido was killed while attending the concert at the Bataclan, Spanish authorities said.
- Sweden: one person of Swedish nationality was wounded by gunfire and another was killed, according to the foreign ministry, which said it was still verifying the information.
- Switzerland: reports that citizens were injured.
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Tunisia: Two young Tunisians, sisters who lived in the French region of Creusot and who were celebrating a friend’s birthday in Paris, were also killed, according to the Tunisian foreign ministry.
- United States: Twenty-three-year old Nohemi Gonzalez, a student from California was killed in the attacks, her university said. She is thought to also hold Mexican citizenship and could be the second of two women identified by the Mexican government as deceased in the attack. Other Americans are reported to be injured.
Updated
In the US, candidates for the Democratic nomination for president have opened their latest televised debate with a minute’s silence for the victims of the Paris attacks.
The three candidates expressed their shock and disgust at the events of Friday night, with Hillary Clinton saying prayers were “not enough”:
We need to have a resolve that will bring the world together to root out the kind of radical jihadist ideology that motivates organisations like Isis .
You can follow updates on our debate live blog:
The deadliest of the attacks was at the Bataclan music venue, where at least 89 people were killed, along with three of the attackers.
All the musicians performing with the California-based rock band Eagles of Death Metal were unharmed, but a member of their entourage and a member of their record label team were killed.
The family of Nick Alexander, a 36-year-old Briton who was the band’s merchandise manager, said:
Nick died doing the job he loves and we take great comfort in knowing how much he was cherished by his friends around the world.
Also killed was a Mercury Records executive, Thomas Ayad, 34, part of a team from the band’s parent label, Universal Music Group, attending the concert, the company said.
After the confusion of Friday night, more clarity is emerging about the attackers involved in the synchronised atrocities.
While police still investigate their identities, we now know that seven terrorists died in the course of the attacks.
Six of them blew themselves up – the first-ever suicide bombings on French soil.
Two gunmen detonated suicide belts as police stormed the Bataclan music venue, and a third was shot by police.
Three suicide bombers also detonated their explosives outside the Stade de France stadium.
The seventh attacker blew himself up on a busy street near the concert hall, also injuring one other person.
Latest Summary
Here’s where things stand:
- The number of dead rose to 129, while the number of wounded rose to 352, with 99 in critical condition, Paris prosecutor François Molins said in a press conference on Saturday
- The attacks were ‘carried out by three coordinated teams of gunmen’, Molins said, adding that seven suspected attackers were killed on Friday night. One attacker was French, and was known to police. The Associated Press reported that members of his family have been detained
- Molins gave a rough timeline of the attacks. The Guardian has put together a short video on how the events unfolded
- Three people were arrested at Belgian border, Molins said. Belgian police made several arrests after the Brussels raids
- The attacks were retaliation for France’s bombing in Syria, the Islamic State militant group has said
- Greek authorities have told the Guardian that an earlier Reuters report that a second attacker had accessed Europe via Greece was incorrect.
That’s it from us in New York. My colleague Claire Phipps (@Claire_Phipps) will now be taking over the blog from Sydney.
Leaders around the Arab world condemned Friday’s attacks in Paris. King Abdullah of Jordan voiced his “anger over the cowardly terrorist attack in the French capital,” while the Saudi King sent his condolences to French President François Hollande.
But Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said that Friday’s attacks in Paris were a result of France’s backing of the Syrian opposition in its quest to topple his regime.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Assad told a visiting delegation of French lawmakers and journalists that he was ready to cooperate with the French government in the battle against Islamic State, if the French abandoned their stated goal of regime change in Syria.
“Act in the interest of your people,“ Mr. Assad said, referring to the foreign policy of French President François Hollande. ”The first question asked by every French citizen today is, ‘Have the French policies over the past five years brought any good to the French people?’ The answer is no, so what I ask him to do is to act in the interest of the French people—which means changing his policies.”
Meanwhile in Beirut, the head of Lebanon’s Hezbollah movement, Hassan Nasrallah, strongly condemned Isis’ attack on Paris.
“We, Hezbollah, express our strong condemnation and denunciation of the terrorist attack by the criminals of Daesh in Paris,” he said in a televised address, using the Arabic acronym for the jihadist group.
Expressing his solidarity with the French people, he said the Middle East was also suffering “the earthquake” of jihadist groups.
Tensions in Beirut have run high since Thursday, when a twin suicide attack hit a densely populated suburb of the capital, killing 43 and wounding more than 200. The attack was claimed by Isis.
The New York Times Beirut bureau chief wondered on Facebook why the check in feature on Facebook, where Parisians could alert friends and family that they were “safe”, had not been deployed for Beirut’s Isis attack on Thursday. Facebook replied that Paris was “the first time we tried it on a case that isn’t a natural disaster.”
Florence Hartmann has written about waking up in Paris the day after the attacks to an eerie silence:
When I awoke on Saturday morning, I almost enjoyed the terrifying silence on Boulevard Montparnasse – no attacks were perpetrated on the Left Bank of the Seine, where I live. I had wondered whether the streets would be deserted, – they were – or whether there would be this defiant “normality”, as followed the attacks on Charlie Hebdo. Perhaps that will come later.
[...] Many believe there was a rational explanation behind the Charlie Hebdo attack in January – the caricatures of Mohammed – as well as behind the Kosher supermarket attack two days later. The victims at Charlie Hebdo and the shop were intentionally targeted as members of specific groups, because of their opinions or religion. This time, it is blind violence against random targets. Paris has discovered something it did not taste 10 months ago, a feeling that belongs to war zones: that violent death could come to anyone, anywhere, at any time.
Since Friday night, Parisians have been afraid, really afraid. Even before the authorities ordered people to stay where they were, most of the crowds in the area of the attacks had rushed into surrounding buildings, asking for refuge in an any occupied apartment.
Updated
The New York Times reports that the FBI is sending agents to Paris to assist in the investigation:
The F.B.I. is sending agents to Paris to assist with investigation .. https://t.co/zQxKKwCs9C
— Michael S. Schmidt (@nytmike) November 15, 2015
Readers in London, Tel Aviv, Spain, Washington, Lyon, Sofia and Melbourne have been sending pictures and video from vigils around the world. (Share your photos here).
Meanwhile, as the Tricolore lights up national landmarks all over, the Eiffel Tower has gone dark, in mourning.
Mourners in New York sang la Marseillaise:
In Belgium, Minister of the Interior Jan Jambon pledged to “personally” take care of Molenbeek, the neighbourhood linked to the Paris attacks.
Janbon told VTM News, that his counter-terrorist special task force had been yielding good national results, and had managed to stop departures to Syria. He added that “today, there are only problems in Brussels. Or in this case, Molenbeek”, pledging to look at why the commune remains “a problem”.
Adding that Belgium now had to face two issues – terrorism, and the refugee crisis – Jambon said: “How many battles can we fight at once? I think now is the time to have a European solution to the refugees crisis (...) we can’t, at a national level, fight on both fronts at the same time”.
Belgium has one of the highest rates of foreign fighters who have gone on to join jihadi groups:
Exclusive: Greece denies Reuters report on second suspected attacker
Over in Athens Greek officials speaking to the Guardian are now categorically denying reports that a second suspected suicide bomber entered Europe through Greece posing as a refugee.
An earlier report released by Reuters suggesting that a second suicide bomber entered Europe after registering as a refugee has been strongly denied by a senior official in Athens’ police protection ministry.
The source, who previously told the Guardian that Greek security authorities had successfully matched the serial number of a Syrian passport with a refugee accessing the continent through the Greek island of Leros in October, said there was no indication “whatsoever” that a second man believed to have been among the attackers also entered Europe via Greece.
“These reports are untrue and need clarification,” the official told me adding that in the case of the second suspect Greek officials only had a name to go by.
“We are unable, whatsoever, to confirm the existence of a second person who may have been involved in the attacks coming through Greece. Earlier we were given a serial number which was specific and which we could match. In this case we and other European countries were given a name. As an EU member state we did out best to match it but discovered there were four or five names that were very similar and so were unable to.”
Updated
Mexico: two citizens killed, 1 injured in attacks
Mexico has said that two of its citizens lost their lives in the attacks on Friday night. Both held dual nationalities, the foreign ministry said on Saturday.
A Mexican official, speaking on condition of anonymity to Reuters, said the US passport holder had already been identified in the US as California college student Nohemi Gonzalez.
(More about Nohemi Gonzalez here).
The other woman was born in Mexico, the official added and held a Spanish passport.
Javier Duarte, governor of Veracruz state, identified the second woman in a Twitter posting as Michelle Gil Jaimes from the Gulf of Mexico port of Tuxpan.
A third Mexican citizen with dual Austrian nationality was injured in the attacks and was operated on successfully on Saturday and was now recovering, the ministry said.
Updated
France will wake up to a somber front page from Libération tomorrow, the special edition on the Paris attacks:
Oui, @libe à raison. Il n'y a plus de mots... pic.twitter.com/j7tdNVmUqc
— Erwann Gaucher (@egaucher) November 14, 2015
American rockers the Foo Fighters have cancelled the remaining four dates of their European tour. The group had been due to play in Paris on Monday night. They wrote on their Facebook page:
It is with profound sadness and heartfelt concern for everyone in Paris that we have been forced to announce the cancellation of the rest of our tour. In light of this senseless violence, the closing of borders, and international mourning, we can’t continue right now. There is no other way to say it. This is crazy and it sucks. Our thoughts and prayers are with everyone who was hurt or who lost a loved one.”
Family of one French-born attacker 'detained'
A spokeswoman for the Paris prosecutor’s office has told the Associated Press that the family members of one of the attackers – a Frenchman born in the Paris suburbs – have been detained.
Agnes Thibault-Lecuivre declined to say specify who was detained but said there were searches underway.
Updated
Pascal Riché, the deputy director of the French weekly, le Nouvel Observateur, tweeted out this infographic, showing the deadliest attacks in France’s recent history.
(Red = dead | Green = wounded)
Cette infographie montre l'ampleur inédite du bilan des attentats de Paris https://t.co/ZbvPx8ULu0 via @aviers pic.twitter.com/sDrKUjBHdf
— Pascal Riché (@pascalriche) November 14, 2015
(via @GuardianJessica)
Paris Match has published footage showing an exchange of gunfire between French security forces and the gunmen at the Bataclan concert venue:
Paris Match wrote, the video was filmed at the corner of Boulevard Voltaire and the Passage Saint-Pierre Amelot shortly after 10pm.
‘The Bataclan was under siege by three terrorists who were shooting at the crowd in the middle of the concert. Photographer Patrick Zachmann was at the scene, and filmed the first exchange of fire between the security forces and the assailants.’
More than 24 hours after the attacks began in Paris, people are gathering around the world to mourn for the victims of Friday’s attacks, holding candlelit vigils, singing la Marseillaise and leaving flowers and messages at French embassies the world over. Several national landmarks, were also lit up in the French Tricolore.
In London, hundreds gathered in Trafalgar Square:
A violinist even serenaded the London crowd:
RT blathnaidhealy: Everyone in whole of Trafalgar Square has gathered in silence around this violinist https://t.co/42JP83kHXD via mashable
— Marketing Worm (@MarketingFeedle) November 14, 2015
In Barcelona, people lit candles at the door of the General Consulate of France:
Gibraltar’s Moorish Castle was one of several national landmarks lit up in French colours:
@GuyvanLierop @maitlis Gibraltar joined this tonight. pic.twitter.com/rS5glPgI8C
— John Dykes (@thismapiswrong) November 14, 2015
In New York, hundreds gathered in Manhattan, at Washington Square Park. The crowd gathered near the Washington Square Arch, itself modeled on Paris’s Arc de Triomphe.
In Athens, dozens gathered throughout the day and night outside the French embassy, where residents left flowers and candles at the embassy gates.
- At a vigil tonight? Share your photos and videos here.
Greece: second suspected attacker 'likely' entered Europe through Greece
A second man suspected to have been among the attackers in Paris on Friday, is “very likely” to have entered Europe though Greece, Greek government sources have told Reuters.
Earlier, a Greek government minister said the holder of a Syrian passport found near the body of one of the gunmen who died in the attacks in Paris had passed through the Greek island of Leros in October.
Parisians visiting La Belle Equipe, one of the six sites targeted in the attacks, have given the bullet-strewn windows a facelift:
Major museums in the Paris region will remain closed on Sunday, the French Culture and Communication Ministry said in a statement.
The second day of closures will include some of the most important French museums, namely the Louvre, the Musée d’Orsay and the Centre Pompidou.
The LA Times has quoted US law enforcement officials with knowledge of the French investigation, as saying that the attack was seemingly planned in Belgium.
Friday night’s terror attacks in Paris apparently began with a small cell in the neighborhoods of Brussels, Belgium, where French authorities believe that many of the terrorists were recruited and that the attacks were planned and financed, according to two US law enforcement officials who have been advised about the ongoing French probe.
The sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation is in its early stages and the French are leading the effort, also said the terrorists likely were familiar with French culture and Paris in particular, and that it was “highly possible” some had lived there.
Islamic State has claimed responsibility for the attacks and French President Francois Hollande also blamed them, but the sources said the multiple sites and soft targets hit in the attacks pointed to Al Qaeda rather than Islamic State, and they stressed that authorities are still trying to pin down who was behind the attacks.
Meanwhile, Barack Obama convened his National Security Council to discuss the Paris attacks before departing for the G20 summit.
According to a statement circulated by the White House, the Council was briefed on the latest intelligence, but noted that there was “no specific or credible threat to the United States.”
The Council said that it had no information to contradict initial reports from France that Isis was responsible for Friday night’s massacre.
The incident at the Pullman hotel was a false alert, the French Interior Ministry spokesman has now said.
Updated
Police have also closed down the Champ de Mars RER underground station, near the Eiffel Tower, according to Reuters.
A Fox News correspondent is at the Pullman Hotel:
Harrigan at Pullman Hotel: "Police are now going room to room. We don't know what's behind this move."#Paris @ANHQDC pic.twitter.com/4lRqLw9oEV
— Fox News (@FoxNews) November 14, 2015
Reuters is reporting that the area around the Eiffel Tower has been evacuated, with heavy police activity around the Pullman Hotel, in the seventh arrondissement. The Guardian has not yet been able to confirm this.
Updated
The France midfielder Lassana Diarra has revealed that his cousin, Asta Diakité, was killed during Friday night’s attack.
Diarra played 80 minutes of the match against Germany. In a statement posted on Twitter, he said his cousin was like “a big sister to me … In this climate of terror, it is important for all of us who are representatives of our country and its diversity to speak and remain united against a horror that has no colour, no religion.”
Diarra’s team-mate Antoine Griezmann, meanwhile, said that his sister Maude had escaped the attack at the Bataclan concert hall which left at least 87 people dead.
Updated
France plans to go ahead with a global climate change summit in Paris at the end of the month despite Friday’s attacks. “It’s an essential meeting for humanity,” said prime minister Manuel Valls, ading that the summit would also be an opportunity for world leaders to show their solidarity with France after the attacks.
Almost 120 leaders are expected to attend the opening day of the conference, which starts on 30 November and is expected to result in a global deal to limit greenhouse gas emissions. Both Barack Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry plan to attend, the White House said.
Updated
The White House says there is no information to contradict the French view that Islamic State was responsible for the Paris attacks.
The National Security Council has briefed President Obama on the events that occurred in the French capital and added that there was “no specific or credible threat” against the United States.
Paris prosecutor: timeline of the attacks
Returning to the briefing earlier this evening from Paris prosecutor Francois Molins, he gave a minute-by-minute account of how the attacks in Paris unfolded:
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9.20pm One victim was killed when the first explosion went off in Saint Denis near the Stade de France during a football match between France and Germany. The body of a terrorist was found at the scene wearing a suicide belt filled with shrapnel.
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9.25pm 15 people were killed and 10 injured at Le Carillon bar and Le Petit Cambodge restaurant in Rue Alibert in the city’s 10th district. Terrorists armed with Kalashnikovs were seen pulling up in a black Seat car before opening fire.
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9.30pm A second explosion went off outside the Stade de France. The body of another suicide bomber was discovered at the scene with a similar explosive belt.
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9.32pm Five people died and eight were injured in a shooting outside La Bonne Biere bar in the 11th district. The gunmen arrived in the same car and armed with similar weapons to the first shooting.
- 9.36pm 19 people were killed and nine injured at La Belle Equipe restaurant on Rue de Charonne in the 11th district. A black Seat car was spotted at the scene and the gunmen were again armed with Kalashnikovs.
- 9.40pm One person was seriously injured when a suicide explosive, similar to those used in the other attacks, was detonated inside the Voltaire restaurant in Boulevard Voltaire, 11th district.
- 9.40pm 89 people were shot dead and “many” injured when three armed men took hostages and opened fire into the crowd during a rock concert at Le Bataclan. The attackers were heard mentioning Syria and Iraq during the massacre. They arrived at the venue in a black Polo car.
- 9.53pm Third explosion took place on Rue de la Cokerie, near the Stade de France. The body of a third suicide bomber wearing an explosive belt was found at the scene.
- 12.20am The three terrorists at Le Bataclan were killed. One was shot dead by French police, the other two blew themselves up.
Updated
Some footage that appears to have been filmed inside the Bataclan theatre before the terrorists arrived has been posted by the New York Post. It was apparently filmed by a young concert goer and gives an insight into just how crowded the venue was.
The video pans around the space, showing the Eagles of Death Metal on stage and the crowd enjoying the show. At a later stage, you can hear her go upstairs and say that her phone is running out of battery.
The woman appears to have streamed the footage on Periscope, where the broadcast is no longer now available.
Updated
The band that was playing at the Bataclan last night - the Eagles of Death Metal - was signed to Universal Music. Pascal Nègre, the label’s French boss, has tweeted (in French) after three young staff members were killed by the attackers.
La famille Universal Music est en deuil : Thomas , Marie ,Manu . Nos pensées vont à leurs familles et à leurs amis . RIP
— PascalNegre (@PascalNegre) November 14, 2015
U2 pays tribute to attack victims
My colleague Henry McDonald reported earlier that U2 frontman Bono had described the Paris attacks as Islamic State’s first targeting of music.
“When you think about it, the majority of victims from last night’s attacks were music fans. So this really is the first direct hit on music we’ve had in this so-called war on terror. We know that they don’t like music … and this and the cold-blooded aspect of last night’s attacks are what are really upsetting because it means it could have been any of us,” he told a Dublin radio station.
Now all four members of U2 have gone to a memorial near the Bataclan venue in Paris tonight to pay their respects to those who died.
Updated
New York’s Metropolitan Opera, led by Placido Domingo, has mourned the victims of the attacks in Paris with an unscheduled performance of the French national anthem.
Ahead of a matinee of Puccini’s Tosca, Domingo conducted the orchestra in La Marseillaise as the Metropolitan Opera Chorus sang the words in French on stage.
A slip of paper was put in all programmes at the opera house with the lyrics to the anthem and an explanation that the song was “a show of our solidarity with the citizens of France”.
Here’s a flash of it, courtesy of New York resident and baritone, Erik Larson:
.@MetOpera performed the French National Anthem before today's matinee performance of #Tosca. #Bravo. #Paris pic.twitter.com/yAzGNqaRFB
— Erik E. Larson (@unamplified) November 14, 2015
And here is some more from the Met’s Instagram account:
Updated
Briton killed in Paris named
The British man who was killed in the Paris attacks has been named as Nick Alexander. He was working for the band Eagles of Death Metal that was playing at the Bataclan venue on Friday.
His family said on Saturday:
“It is with huge sorrow that we can confirm that our beloved Nick lost his life at the Bataclan last night.
Nick was not just our brother, son and uncle, he was everyone’s best friend - generous, funny and fiercely loyal.
Nick died doing the job he loved and we take great comfort in knowing how much he was cherished by his friends around the world.
Thank you for your thoughts and respect for our family at this difficult time. Peace and light.”
Updated
Paris prosecutor details six attacks
The Paris prosecutor said that there were six separate attacks in Paris last night.
As many as 18 people died when the terrace of La Belle Equipe was sprayed with gunfire, while about 14 people were killed at Le Carillon bar-cafe. There were also shootings at the nearby Cambodian restaurant Le Petit Cambodge and the La Casa Nostra pizzeria.
The vast majority of those killed were attending the concert at the Bataclan concert hall, which was the fifth site, with the sixth location being the State de France, where two attackers died after detonating their explosive belts.
One of the gunmen at the Bataclan was shot by police, while the other two attackers killed themselves with their explosive vests.
Updated
The type of explosives used by the attackers - who were wearing suicide vests - was TATP (triacetone triperoxide), according to the Paris prosecutor.
Sometimes referred to as “Mother of Satan”, TATP is a type of explosive that can be made with easily available chemicals that can be developed in a cost-effective, simple way. It’s also difficult to detect using police dogs and other conventional means.
Not surprisingly, it’s been a favoured choice of terrorists for some time. First developed by Palestinian bombers, it was used as a detonator in 2001 by the so-called ‘shoe bomber”, Richard Reid, a Briton who tried to blow up a transatlantic flight.
Updated
Details have been provided by the Paris prosecutor about what was found with the remains of the Paris attackers
The Bataclan theatre attack
One was said to have been from a Paris suburb and had been known in the past for committing criminal acts.
Another had a Syrian passport. There were armed with what were described as Kalashnikov automatic rifles.
At the Bataclan and at other sites, cartridges for 7.62 mm calibre ammunition – a nominal calibre used for a number of different cartridges – were recovered
The Stade de France attack
Syrian and Egyptian passports were found with the remains of the attackers on the stadium in the north of Paris.
Updated
Meanwhile in Athens, Greek officials have told the Guardian that it was now up to French authorities to identify the gunman who was found with a Syrian passport. A picture has begun to emerge of how authorities in Athens and Paris traced that passport to Greece.
Well-placed Greek officials revealed that security forces in Athens, contacted by French counterparts, were given the passport’s serial number earlier on Saturday. Subsequent investigation revealed that the unnamed passport holder had indeed passed through Greek territory on 3 October.
“We found the serial number and we found the finger prints and palm prints that are also taken [from every refugee] as part of the Eurodat screening process. All this data is now held in the pan-European database that all Schengen countries have access to,” one well-placed insider told the Guardian.
But officials cautioned against “automatically concluding” that the passport holder was the assailant. “It is now up to the French authorities to match those finger prints with the remains of the body [of the attacker] and to announce the identity,” the official said. “Either this person passed through Greece posing as a refugee or along the way he bought or stole the passport. It is well known that Syrian passports are also extremely easy to forge. At this stage either scenario is possible.”
Greece, like all European countries, has stepped up surveillance of French interests in Athens following last night’s attacks.
The Paris prosecutor said that one of the attackers was born on 21 November 1985 and was from the suburb of Courcouronnes, about 20 miles south of Paris. He had had a criminal record since 2004 and was flagged as an Islamic extremist in 2010, but had never spent time in jail.
A second gunman was found with a passport of a Syrian man who had been born in 1980. He had not previously been known to French police.
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One American woman killed during attacks
A 23-year-old American woman was killed during the Paris attacks, the Guardian has learned.
Twenty-year-old Nohemi Gonzalez, a student at California State University, Long Beach, was killed on Friday night. Gonzalez, a college junior, was in Paris attending Strate College of Design during a semester abroad program.
“I’m deeply saddened by the news of the passing of Long Beach State University student Nohemi Gonzalez. Our thoughts and prayers are with her family and friends during this sad time,” said CSULB president, Jane Close Conoley.
The university will hold a vigil on Sunday afternoon to mark her death and the loss of lives in Paris.
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The Belgian connection
One of the cars used in the Paris attacks was registered to a French citizen who was stopped at the French-Belgian border in the company of two other people, according to the Paris prosecutor. The three were living in Belgium and were said not to have been known by French authorities.
Belgian authorities have already said that a number of arrests in their jurisdiction came after a car with Belgian number plates was seen close to the Bataclan theatre in Paris on Friday night.
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François Molins, the Paris prosecutor, says there seems to have been three teams of coordinated gunmen involved in the attacks. They are believed to have been split between the Stade de France, a black Seat car seen at multiple locations where shootings took place, and a black VW Polo car.
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The largest loss of life came at the Bataclan concert hall, the prosecutor says. Here, attackers mentioned Syria and Iraq briefly. Three terrorists died - one shot by police and two exploded their suicide vests. There were 89 deaths and an unknown number of injuries.
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The prosecutor is giving a detailed account of the evidence gathered so far about the attacks. He begins with the events at the Stade de France. The first explosion was at D gate, he says. Two bodies found: one with an explosive belt with batteries, the second victim a passerby.
Then, diners at a bar were attacked by gunmen who arrived in a Seat car. Here, 15 people killed and 10 were injured.
At 9.30pm at H gate at the Stade de France, another gunman’s body was found with a similar belt.
At 9.32pm, in the 11th arrondissement, there was another shootout in front of a bar. Here, five are dead, eight injured. Some 100 bullets were found. The attacker arrived in a black Seat.
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Paris prosecutor: seven terrorists died in "coordinated" attacks
The Paris prosecutor says that 129 people were killed and 352 people were injured, with at least 99 still in critical condition. Seven terrorists have died following their actions.
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At least one British citizen killed in Paris attacks
At least one British citizen has been killed and a handful are feared dead in the Paris terror attack, government sources have said.
A Foreign and Commonwealth Office spokeswoman said the death of one Briton had been confirmed but the person’s name could not yet be released. “Next of kin have been informed but have asked for privacy and time to come to terms with the news before further details are released,” she said.
The number of UK deaths could rise. “We know of one death already, we fear there may be a handful of British fatalities and about the same number are being treated for their injuries in hospital,” a Whitehall insider said.
Summary
Our coverage of the fallout from the Paris attacks continues here. We are awaiting a press conference by the Paris prosecutor’s office shortly, where we may learn more details about the attacks and the investigation.
Meanwhile, here are the main developments.
German authorities say they have “reasonable grounds to believe” a man arrested in Bavaria earlier this month, in a car loaded with explosives, may be linked to the Paris attacks. David Cameron has said the UK must be braced for British casualties, without going into specifics.
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The Islamic State militant group has released a statement claiming responsibility for Friday night’s attacks and has threatened further attacks against France. The group says the killings were in response to airstrikes against its militants in Syria, adding France would remain a “key target”.
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President François Hollande also said Isis was to blame for the terror attacks across Paris. He said the attacks were an “act of war” and declared three days of national mourning.
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The death toll stands at 127, while about 200 are believed to have been wounded, 99 seriously. Swedish, Belgian, Romanian and Tunisian citizens are among the dead.
- Eight gunmen were involved and all are understood to be dead. One was French and was known to police.
- Another gunman was found with a Syrian passport and travelled to France through Greece last month.
- Belgian police have conducted raids in Brussels and made several arrests.
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World leaders have expressed outrage, with many pledging to help France with the ongoing investigation. Barack Obama says America stands shoulder-to-shoulder with France. The Vatican has also condemned the attack as “mad terrorist violence”.
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