Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/602004
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 15 NOVEMBER 2015 Paris attacks V Multi-site terror attack that struck right at Europe's heart THE orchestrated series of attacks that killed 129 people and injured at least 352, began at 9.20pm on Friday outside the Stade de France, where three suicide bombers detonated their explosive belts in the span of 20 minutes. French President Francois Hollande, who was attending at a friendly football match between France and Germany at the stadium, was evacuated by his security guards to the interior ministry. At about the same time, four gunmen entered a popular concert hall in the capital's north-eastern 11th arrondisse- ment, while others opened fire on a string of cafes and res- taurants not far away, crowded on a mild November evening. They came despite France – one of the founding members of the US-led coalition carrying out air strikes against Islam- ic State positions in Iraq and Syria – being on a high state of alert for possible terrorist attacks in the run-up to a global climate conference later this month. The deadliest assault was at the Bataclan, a popular concert hall a few hundred metres from the offices of Charlie Hebdo, the satirical magazine hit along with a Jewish supermarket by Islamist militants in January during a three-day onslaught that left 20 people dead, including three Islamist gunmen. The attackers first sprayed cafes outside the concert hall with machinegun fire, then went inside and opened fire on the panicked audience, according to the Paris police chief. As police closed in, they detonated suicide vests, killing themselves and setting off explosions. Witnesses said the militants marched into the venue, where more than 1,000 people had gathered to hear the Californian rock band Eagles of Death Metal, armed with Kalashnikov rifles and shouting "Allahu akbar". At least 87 people lost their lives in the ensuing carnage, while dozens more were taken hostage for nearly three hours until armed riot police stormed the building at about midnight. "They didn't stop firing. There was blood everywhere, corpses everywhere. Everyone was trying to flee," said Pierre Janaszak, a radio presenter who was at the concert. Other survivors said three of the attackers detonated their suicide belts as the security forces burst in. Video footage shot from outside the venue showed dead bodies lying in the street, dozens of people running away from the entrance and survivors pulling the injured to safety. One witness described the scene as a bloodbath. The other shootings were at bars and restaurants on the Boulevard de Charonne, where 18 people reportedly lost their lives; Boulevard Voltaire, where one person died; Rue de la Fontaine-au-Roi, where five were killed; and Rue Alib- ert, where 14 were shot dead. In the aftermath, a desperate social media search was un- der way to identify victims, with few details of their identi- ties yet confirmed. A number of those killed are expected to be from various countries and the missing include children as young as 12. A Syrian who purportedly passed through Greece as a refugee last month, a known French extremist and an Egyptian were said to be among a cell of eight gunmen who carried out the coordinated suicide bombings and shootings on Friday that left France reeling. As police worked to identify the eight militants, a Greek minister told Reuters that a Syrian passport found near the body of one of the gunmen belonged to a refugee who passed through Greece in October. "The holder of the passport passed through the island of Le- ros on 3 October, 2015, where he was identified according to EU rules," Nikos Toscas, Greece's deputy minister in charge of policing said. Investigators told French media the Syrian passport be- longed to a man born in 1970 while an Egyptian passport had also been found lying close by the bodies of two other jihadis, both of whom blew themselves up in the course of their at- tacks. Athens forwarded to French authorities the fingerprints of the passport holder registered on Leros in October, to check whether he was actually involved in Friday's attacks. At least one of the fighters, identified by his fingerprints, was a French national with known links to Islamist networks from the southern Paris suburb of Courcoronnes. As Europe struggles to contain an influx of hundreds of thousands of migrants, the revelation that one of the Paris killers may have travelled the refugee route, been registered in Greece in accordance with EU rules, and managed to make his way northwards to join what unconfirmed reports sug- gested was effectively an independent jihadi cell, could prove deeply damaging. So far, no Maltese citizen has been reported among the dead or injured. The Swedish, Belgian and Romanian governments said their citizens were among those killed and there were growing fears that at least one Briton and an American man also had lost their lives. Frantic friends and relatives took to social media, using the Twitter hashtag #rechercheParis, to appeal for information about the missing. Meanwhile, a man arrested in southern Germany last week, who had weapons including machine guns and explosives in his car, was "likely linked to attackers in Paris," German media reported Saturday. Germany's interior minister made a plea against linking the terror attacks in Paris to the record influx of asylum seekers into Europe. The Islamic State claimed responsibility for the deadly at- tacks in Paris, calling them "the beginning of the storm" and scorned France as a "capital of prostitution and obscenity". An audio message released in English, read by a man speaking with an American accent said: "A group of believ- ers from the soldiers of the Caliphate set out targeting the capital of prostitution and vice, the lead carrier of the cross in Europe, Paris," he said. According to statements released in multiple languages, ISIS said "eight brothers wearing explosive belts and carry- ing assault rifles" conducted a "blessed attack on... Crusader France." The group also threatened further attacks against France "as long as it continues its Crusader campaign". It said the targets of Friday's attacks, which included the national sports stadium and the Bataclan concert hall, "were carefully chosen". "Let France and those who walk in its path know that they will remain on the top of the list of targets of the Islamic State," the statement added, referring to the attacks at the Bataclan concert hall and several districts in Paris. In reference to the French participation in the US-led coalition conducting an air war against ISIS in Syria and Iraq, ISIS said France was guilty of "striking Muslims in the caliphate with their aircraft". ISIS also released an undated video on Saturday threaten- ing to attack France if bombings of its fighters continue. The group's foreign media arm, Al-Hayat Media Center, made the threat through a militant who called on French Muslims to carry out attacks. "As long as you keep bombing you will not live in peace. You will even fear travelling to the market," said the bearded Arabic-speaking militant, flanked by other fighters. Paris carnage: where and how it happened Syrian who apparently passed through Greece as refugee among attackers Islamic State issues new threat