Paris rocked by explosions and shootouts leaving dozens dead
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janklow
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obviously, still in the breaking news phase here...
Paris rocked by explosions and shootouts leaving dozens dead
Paris rocked by explosions and shootouts leaving dozens dead
France declared a state of emergency and sealed its borders Friday evening after a series of apparently coordinated terrorist attacks struck at sites across Paris, leaving scenes of horror and carnage outside a soccer stadium, at a café and inside a concert hall where a hostage situation played out late into the night.
The attacks left at least 35 people dead — and perhaps many more — spawning panic and chaos in a city where residents and tourists had only minutes earlier been enjoying a cool and quiet November evening.
At the concert hall, there were reports of gunfire and explosions as security forces moved in on hostage takers who had stormed a concert by an American rock band.
French television showed people evacuating the venue, walking out with their hands up. News media said the operation to secure the Bataclan theater was over and that two gunmen have been killed.
Meanwhile, a Guardian journalist on the scene tweeted that medical staff were running toward the theater, carrying dozens of empty stretchers.
Outside a popular café, witnesses reported seeing piles of bodies in the street, the café windows having been raked with gunfire. Terrified fans stormed the soccer field after suicide bombers detonated explosives outside the stadium north of Paris.
The attacks were the worst in France in modern memory, and once again traumatized a country still reeling from three days of terror in January, when Islamist militants killed 12 people at the offices of the satirical publication Charlie Hebdo, left four hostages dead at a kosher supermarket and fatally shot a police officer.
The explosions near the soccer stadium forced authorities to evacuate President Francois Hollande, who was among thousands watching a friendly match between France and Germany.
Hollande later went on national television to announce a state of emergency, including travel restrictions and the closing of French borders. He said security forces were continuing to battle terrorists in at least one location.
“We know who these terrorists are,” he said, without elaborating. “These terrorists want to make us afraid and seize us with fear. . . . This is a nation that defends itself.”
Police said at least 15 people were killed in the Bataclan theater, where a hostage-taking was underway, and 11 were slain at a Paris restaurant in the 10th Arrondissement, the Associated Press said in an initial report. An American rock bank was performing at the time of the attack.
The deputy mayor of Paris, interviewed on CNN, said the apparent hostage situation was “going on as we speak.” He said there were unconfirmed reports that the attacks near the Stade de France stadium north of Paris were committed by suicide bombers.
Witnesses said three or four men clad in black used assault rifles to mow down audience members at the concert hall.
Police surrounded the Bataclan theater in apparent preparation to assault it, and gunfire and explosions could be heard from the scene.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attacks, which were nevertheless celebrated on social media linked to the Islamic State extremist group.
In Washington, the White House said President Obama “was briefed on the situation in Paris by Lisa Monaco, assistant to the president for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism.”
A somber Obama subsequently appeared in the White House briefing room to offer condolences and U.S. help “to bring these terrorists to justice.”
He said it was not just an assault on France but “an attack on all of humanity and the universal values we share.” Obama added, “Those that think they can terrorize the people of France and the values they stand for are wrong.”
“We are going to do whatever it takes to work with the French people and with nations around the world to bring these terrorists to justice and to go after any terrorist networks that go after our people,” Obama said. He pledged whatever help he could provide to the French government and praised it as an “extraordinary counterterrorism partner.”
Obama, who is scheduled to leave Saturday for the Group of 20 summit in Turkey, said he spoke prior to the attacks with Hollande and plans to talk with him again in the coming days. “
“This is a heartbreaking situation, and obviously those of us in the United States know what it’s like,” he said. “We’ve gone through these kinds of episodes ourselves.”
“All of Paris needs our prayers tonight,” House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) tweeted.
The Washington Post’s Ryan Weber, currently in Paris, reported that some of Paris’s main Metro stations were closed down on Friday night, including the one at the Gare du Nord, one of the city’s principal train stations.
Although Paris residents were urged to stay indoors, hundreds streamed down the Boulevard Magenta waving French flags, trying to reach the Stade de France stadium to show solidarity with the victims.
Mary Lou Dorio, the mother of Julian Dorio, the drummer for Eagles of Death Metal band, told The Post that her son and other band members managed to escape the Bataclan concern hall when the attack there began. However, the fate of several crew members remains unknown, she said.
“It was awful,” the mother said. She added that her son was at a local police station, where he was able to call his wife.
“It was a bloodbath,” said Julien Pearce, a radio reporter in France, in an interview with CNN. He said he was at the concert and saw three or four young men dressed in black open fire on the crowd with assault rifles, firing at random as people screamed.
“They didn’t shout anything; they didn’t say anything,” he said of the assailants. “They were just shooting [at] people.” He said he saw at least 20 bodies. “Some were dead. Others were very badly wounded,” he said. Roughly 1,000 people were attending the concert in the relatively small venue, he said.
A State Department official traveling with Secretary of State John F. Kerry in Vienna said he was “closely monitoring events in Paris, and our embassy there is working to account for any U.S. citizens involved.”
Witnesses said at least three explosions were heard near the soccer stadium, two of them during the first half of the France-Germany match. Fans were barred from leaving the stadium after the match but were allowed to gather on the pitch.
Comments
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Think just last year Obama called them a jv team. They stepped up to the big leagues in a major way
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I'm about 90% sure ISIS or Al-Qaeda is responsible, the coordination feels like an attack from one of those two. A British news report says 158 were killed, grenades used during the attacks as well smh
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The_Jackal wrote: »Think just last year Obama called them a jv team. They stepped up to the big leagues in a major way
After the Russian attack, I don't doubt their abilities on any level anymore. Not sure what can stop them at this point -
kingblaze84 wrote: »The_Jackal wrote: »Think just last year Obama called them a jv team. They stepped up to the big leagues in a major way
After the Russian attack, I don't doubt their abilities on any level anymore. Not sure what can stop them at this point
Make a more serious effort to ? them. Only way to solve the problem now became to big a threat -
kingblaze84 wrote: »The_Jackal wrote: »Think just last year Obama called them a jv team. They stepped up to the big leagues in a major way
After the Russian attack, I don't doubt their abilities on any level anymore. Not sure what can stop them at this point
total war the entire world needs to stop ? around and take the gloves off. -
I mentioned this in the ISIS thread I made but CNN is now saying one of the captured suspects is confessing to French police that ISIS leadership sent him and the other attackers from Syria. France is in trouble, especially if it continues its air strikes. There are a LOT of Muslims in France, ? knows how many are radicalized.
American intelligence is also telling CNN that it seems ISIS is involved. -
The_Jackal wrote: »kingblaze84 wrote: »The_Jackal wrote: »Think just last year Obama called them a jv team. They stepped up to the big leagues in a major way
After the Russian attack, I don't doubt their abilities on any level anymore. Not sure what can stop them at this point
Make a more serious effort to ? them. Only way to solve the problem now became to big a threat
A more serious effort? We'll see, American air strikes supposedly have already killed 10K ISIS fighters. Iran and its militias have similar numbers I think. But they have millions in their caliphate. Either way, it's gonna be a long ass war, no matter who fights them. -
kingblaze84 wrote: »The_Jackal wrote: »kingblaze84 wrote: »The_Jackal wrote: »Think just last year Obama called them a jv team. They stepped up to the big leagues in a major way
After the Russian attack, I don't doubt their abilities on any level anymore. Not sure what can stop them at this point
Make a more serious effort to ? them. Only way to solve the problem now became to big a threat
A more serious effort? We'll see, American air strikes supposedly have already killed 10K ISIS fighters. Iran and its militias have similar numbers I think. But they have millions in their caliphate. Either way, it's gonna be a long ass war, no matter who fights them.
More serious effort as in boots on the ground. Doesn't matter how many you ? if you aren't actively controlling the area -
The_Jackal wrote: »kingblaze84 wrote: »The_Jackal wrote: »kingblaze84 wrote: »The_Jackal wrote: »Think just last year Obama called them a jv team. They stepped up to the big leagues in a major way
After the Russian attack, I don't doubt their abilities on any level anymore. Not sure what can stop them at this point
Make a more serious effort to ? them. Only way to solve the problem now became to big a threat
A more serious effort? We'll see, American air strikes supposedly have already killed 10K ISIS fighters. Iran and its militias have similar numbers I think. But they have millions in their caliphate. Either way, it's gonna be a long ass war, no matter who fights them.
More serious effort as in boots on the ground. Doesn't matter how many you ? if you aren't actively controlling the area
As long as it's not American troops doing that, I don't care. Assad, Iran, and others are using troops, same with some others. American airstrikes helped make ISIS more popular, I can only imagine how American troops invading and doing mass killings in Syria as they did in Iraq would work out. Hint: It would be another failure. -
kingblaze84 wrote: »The_Jackal wrote: »kingblaze84 wrote: »The_Jackal wrote: »kingblaze84 wrote: »The_Jackal wrote: »Think just last year Obama called them a jv team. They stepped up to the big leagues in a major way
After the Russian attack, I don't doubt their abilities on any level anymore. Not sure what can stop them at this point
Make a more serious effort to ? them. Only way to solve the problem now became to big a threat
A more serious effort? We'll see, American air strikes supposedly have already killed 10K ISIS fighters. Iran and its militias have similar numbers I think. But they have millions in their caliphate. Either way, it's gonna be a long ass war, no matter who fights them.
More serious effort as in boots on the ground. Doesn't matter how many you ? if you aren't actively controlling the area
As long as it's not American troops doing that, I don't care. Assad, Iran, and others are using troops, same with some others. American airstrikes helped make ISIS more popular, I can only imagine how American troops invading and doing mass killings in Syria as they did in Iraq would work out. Hint: It would be another failure.
How? How is it a failure if isis is dead and fractured. Syria ain't never gonna have a legitimate government at least for the next 10 years -
The_Jackal wrote: »Think just last year Obama called them a jv team. They stepped up to the big leagues in a major waykingblaze84 wrote: »I'm about 90% sure ISIS or Al-Qaeda is responsible, the coordination feels like an attack from one of those two. A British news report says 158 were killed, grenades used during the attacks as well smhkingblaze84 wrote: »France is in trouble, especially if it continues its air strikes.
...okay, maybe Spain that one time -
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The_Jackal wrote: »kingblaze84 wrote: »The_Jackal wrote: »kingblaze84 wrote: »The_Jackal wrote: »kingblaze84 wrote: »The_Jackal wrote: »Think just last year Obama called them a jv team. They stepped up to the big leagues in a major way
After the Russian attack, I don't doubt their abilities on any level anymore. Not sure what can stop them at this point
Make a more serious effort to ? them. Only way to solve the problem now became to big a threat
A more serious effort? We'll see, American air strikes supposedly have already killed 10K ISIS fighters. Iran and its militias have similar numbers I think. But they have millions in their caliphate. Either way, it's gonna be a long ass war, no matter who fights them.
More serious effort as in boots on the ground. Doesn't matter how many you ? if you aren't actively controlling the area
As long as it's not American troops doing that, I don't care. Assad, Iran, and others are using troops, same with some others. American airstrikes helped make ISIS more popular, I can only imagine how American troops invading and doing mass killings in Syria as they did in Iraq would work out. Hint: It would be another failure.
How? How is it a failure if isis is dead and fractured. Syria ain't never gonna have a legitimate government at least for the next 10 years
So let France invade Islamic State then, America has already lost in Iraq and Afghanistan. It doesn't need another humiliation in Syria that would cost another trillion dollars. France has a long history of taking over nations, I'm sure they would do just fine.
And in the last Syrian election, Assad won in a landslide. But Syria is broken up now and isn't coming back in the same way ever again -
kingblaze84 wrote: »The_Jackal wrote: »kingblaze84 wrote: »The_Jackal wrote: »kingblaze84 wrote: »The_Jackal wrote: »kingblaze84 wrote: »The_Jackal wrote: »Think just last year Obama called them a jv team. They stepped up to the big leagues in a major way
After the Russian attack, I don't doubt their abilities on any level anymore. Not sure what can stop them at this point
Make a more serious effort to ? them. Only way to solve the problem now became to big a threat
A more serious effort? We'll see, American air strikes supposedly have already killed 10K ISIS fighters. Iran and its militias have similar numbers I think. But they have millions in their caliphate. Either way, it's gonna be a long ass war, no matter who fights them.
More serious effort as in boots on the ground. Doesn't matter how many you ? if you aren't actively controlling the area
As long as it's not American troops doing that, I don't care. Assad, Iran, and others are using troops, same with some others. American airstrikes helped make ISIS more popular, I can only imagine how American troops invading and doing mass killings in Syria as they did in Iraq would work out. Hint: It would be another failure.
How? How is it a failure if isis is dead and fractured. Syria ain't never gonna have a legitimate government at least for the next 10 years
So let France invade Islamic State then, America has already lost in Iraq and Afghanistan. It doesn't need another humiliation in Syria that would cost another trillion dollars. France has a long history of taking over nations, I'm sure they would do just fine.
And in the last Syrian election, Assad won in a landslide. But Syria is broken up now and isn't coming back in the same way ever again
Not saying France shouldn't just saying someone needs to be on the ground in a major way -
The_Jackal wrote: »kingblaze84 wrote: »The_Jackal wrote: »kingblaze84 wrote: »The_Jackal wrote: »kingblaze84 wrote: »The_Jackal wrote: »kingblaze84 wrote: »The_Jackal wrote: »Think just last year Obama called them a jv team. They stepped up to the big leagues in a major way
After the Russian attack, I don't doubt their abilities on any level anymore. Not sure what can stop them at this point
Make a more serious effort to ? them. Only way to solve the problem now became to big a threat
A more serious effort? We'll see, American air strikes supposedly have already killed 10K ISIS fighters. Iran and its militias have similar numbers I think. But they have millions in their caliphate. Either way, it's gonna be a long ass war, no matter who fights them.
More serious effort as in boots on the ground. Doesn't matter how many you ? if you aren't actively controlling the area
As long as it's not American troops doing that, I don't care. Assad, Iran, and others are using troops, same with some others. American airstrikes helped make ISIS more popular, I can only imagine how American troops invading and doing mass killings in Syria as they did in Iraq would work out. Hint: It would be another failure.
How? How is it a failure if isis is dead and fractured. Syria ain't never gonna have a legitimate government at least for the next 10 years
So let France invade Islamic State then, America has already lost in Iraq and Afghanistan. It doesn't need another humiliation in Syria that would cost another trillion dollars. France has a long history of taking over nations, I'm sure they would do just fine.
And in the last Syrian election, Assad won in a landslide. But Syria is broken up now and isn't coming back in the same way ever again
Not saying France shouldn't just saying someone needs to be on the ground in a major way
Well yeah, but I'm not sure which nation has the appetite to that at this time. The stupid 2003 war in Iraq has opened up a genie that's gonna be very difficult to deal with. Rumor has it ISIS will be attacking London and Rome next, according to some Twitter writings I've seen. Things are gonna get ugly for Europe soon.
Maybe France and Britain will invade Islamic State after the attacks, who knows. France and Britain have a long history of invading Middle Eastern countries, it could go well possibly. -
kingblaze84 wrote: »Rumor has it ISIS will be attacking London and Rome next, according to some Twitter writings I've seen.
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isis said they gonna attack usa they got members in different state. prayin 4 yall
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And yet, Black are still being murdered by the police in america while a-Rabs are free to blow up the world one city at a time, because, hey, Its politically incorrect to target and harass one race because a few are terrorist.
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And yet, Black are still being murdered by the police in america while a-Rabs are free to blow up the world one city at a time, because, hey, Its politically incorrect to target and harass one race because a few are terrorist.
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And yet, Black are still being murdered by the police in america while a-Rabs are free to blow up the world one city at a time, because, hey, Its politically incorrect to target and harass one race because a few are terrorist.
People that defend Muslims/Arabs are paid off by Arabs. I don't see why else would people defend a religion that is so barbaric. -
cannonspike1994 wrote: »And yet, Black are still being murdered by the police in america while a-Rabs are free to blow up the world one city at a time, because, hey, Its politically incorrect to target and harass one race because a few are terrorist.
People that defend Muslims/Arabs are paid off by Arabs. I don't see why else would people defend a religion that is so barbaric.
All Abrahamic religions are savage and barbaric, but that doesn't excuse killing so many Muslims and Arabs for their resources and oil for so damn long (also keeping the petrodollar strong). It's getting out of hand now and it's only creating more enemies then the west can handle. -
cannonspike1994 wrote: »People that defend Muslims/Arabs are paid off by Arabs. I don't see why else would people defend a religion that is so barbaric.