Dozens killed in multiple attacks on French capital; WARNING: graphic images
UPDATED
- At least 100 killed in hostage taking at Paris concert hall
- French President François Hollande shuts borders
- State of emergency declared, military deployed around Paris
French police are reporting that at least 100 people are dead, including two attackers, after security forces stormed a Paris concert hall where dozens were being held hostage as part of multiple deadly attacks around the French capital on Friday.
At least six separate attacks occurred at multiple sites around the capital Friday. These included the hostage taking at the Bataclan music hall in the 11th arrondissement in central Paris, a shooting at a restaurant in another neighbourhood and explosions outside a stadium that might have involved two suicide attacks.
The overall death toll was hard to pin down and continued to rise, with some media reporting that more than 140 people had been killed in the attacks. The Associated Press reported that the hostage takers at Bataclan had tossed explosives at the hostages inside.
French fire brigade members aid an injured individual near the Bataclan concert hall in central Paris, where at least 100 people were killed, including two attackers. (Christian Hartmann/Reuters)
"It was carnage," Marc Coupris told the Guardian newspaper after he was freed from the hostage-taking. "It looked like a battlefield, there was blood everywhere, there were bodies everywhere."
Gunfire and explosions had been heard outside the concert venue shortly before the police assault ended.
"It was horrible, there were so many corpses, I just can't talk about it," another man told the Guardian as he eft the Bataclan venue.
A woman who was at a bar near Bataclan said people ran into the bar, fleeing the initial shooting. "They were panicked, wounded, screaming, blood was running all over them. People were having panic attacks; it was horrific."
French President François Hollande had arrived at the site, according to media reports.
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