Paris updating

4:37 The New York Times also reports 1oo killed at Le Bataclan, on its live update page.

A French police official says at least 100 people have been killed inside Bataclan, the live-music venue where attackers seized hostages Friday night, The Associated Press is reporting.

Reporters for The New York Times heard gunfire and explosions at the venue about 12:15 a.m., and then an explosion at 12:30. The sounds were apparently connected with a police assault.

They also have an eyewitness story from someone who escaped:

Jenny Watson was on the first floor of the Bataclan, a popular music venue, when gunmen opened fire on Friday night. She told France 24 what it was like when the deadly terror attack began.

“At first we heard gunshots,” she said. “They were quite high pitched. At first I thought it was a joke.”

“The shots kept going and going and going and people started screaming and ducking, hiding behind the chairs,” she said. “That’s when we knew we needed to get out.”

But there was a gunman in the way, so they had to wait.

“We all ran out in the middle of the street,” she said. “I saw blood. I saw somebody who was shot in the leg. I don’t think I saw anyone who was properly down but it was really quite horrible.”

4:29 Sky News says the police say 100+ were killed.

At least 100 people have been killed inside the Bataclan concert hall where attackers seized hostages, police officials say.

The two attackers holding the hostages have been killed by elite police commandos in a raid.

During the police assault, witnesses reported hearing five successive explosions followed by gunshots around the venue.

Earlier, officials said at least 15 people had been killed inside the building in the 11th arrondissement.

4: 15 On Twitter people are saying 100 have been killed at Le Bataclan.

The New York Times:

French television and news services quoted the police as saying at least 60 people had been killed and many dozens wounded in apparently coordinated attacks, eclipsing the deaths and mayhem that roiled Paris in the Charlie Hebdo massacre and related assaults around the French capital less than a year ago.

One of the explosions, which French news services said may have been a suicide bombing, struck near the country’s main sports stadium where Germany and France were playing a soccer match, forcing a hasty evacuation of President François Hollande. As the scope of the assaults quickly became clear, he convened an emergency cabinet meeting and announced that France was closing its borders.

“As I speak, terrorist attacks of an unprecedented scale are taking place in the Paris region,” he said in a nationally televised address. “There are several dozen dead, lots more wounded, it’s horrific.”

There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but Twitter erupted with celebratory messages by members and sympathizers of the Islamic State, the extremist group based in Syria and Iraq that is under assault by major powers including the United States, France and Russia.

CNN updated 3 minutes ago:

• One of the explosions at the Stade de France outside Paris appears to be a suicide bombing, a Western intelligence source receiving direct intelligence from the scene told CNN’s Deb Feyerick. A dismembered body, consistent with the aftermath of an explosion from that type of device, was found at the scene, the source said.

• Traffic on several subway lines has been interrupted following the attacks, the Paris police prefecture reported.

• At this hour, there is no credible or specific threat in the United States, according to a U.S. government official.

• French President Francois Hollande, in an address to the nation, said he had declared a state of emergency, meaning borders will be closed. “We have to show compassion and solidarity and we also have to show unity and keep our cool. France must be strong and great,” he said.

• The Paris prefecture of police is instructing residents to stay home. The prefecture said via Twitter that people should stay inside “unless there’s an absolute necessity.”

• French authorities have launched a terrorism investigation, Eric Pelletier, a reporter with Le Pariesien, tells CNN Paul Cruickshank. There has been no official claim of responsibility, though ISIS has applauded the attacks on Twitter, Cruickshank reports.

• “This is an attack not just on Paris, not just on the people on France, but an attack on all humanity and the universal values we share,” U.S. President Barack Obama said at the White House. He called the attacks an “outrageous attempt to terrorize innocent civilians.”

• At least 60 people have died in the attacks, CNN affiliate BFMTV reported.

• At least six shootings took place in Paris and three explosions took place at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis late Friday, CNN affiliate BFMTV said. Two or three gunmen entered the Bataclan concert hall while opening fire on law enforcement, BFMTV reported. A source earlier told CNN there were six to eight hostage takers, citing a person they were talking to inside the venue.

• Paris police tell CNN there were three attacks. Attackers reportedly used AK-47 automatic weapons.

• A CNN producer who is at the Bataclan says that police are firing at a rooftop position near the venue.

Vice News:

At least 30 people, a number that may keep rising as new reports come in, have been killed in at least three separate gun attacks and one explosion at a soccer game in Paris, France, on Friday night. French media reports that police say 30 people have been killed, and that gunmen are holding dozens of hostages at Paris concert hall where a rock concert was taking place.

According to French radio Europe 1, shots have also been fired at Les Halles, a shopping mall in the first arrondissement, in the heart of Paris.

The French government has triggered its Red Alpha plan, an emergency response reserved for multiple terrorist attacks. President François Hollande announced on television that France has declared a state of emergency and took the extraordimnaryclosed its borders

I.e., I guess, took the extraordinary step of closing its borders.

One of the shootings occurred in a Cambodian restaurant located in the capital’s 10th arrondissement, to the eest of central Paris. According to witnesses, shots [were heard] at Le Petit Cambodge, 18 rue Alibert, in the République neighborhood.

The second shooting took place in a restaurant in the 11th arrondissement, near the historic Bataclan concert hall.

“We heard at least twenty shots being fired. They were automatic weapons, repeated shots,” a witness who lives near Faidherbe Chaligny subway station, in the 11th arrondissement, told VICE News.

The third shooting occurred at 90 Rue de Chaconne, where a Twitter user posted a photo of bodies covered by sheets in the the streets.

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Tommy Pouilly

There have also been reports of three explosions in a restaurant near the Stade de France — a soccer stadium located just north of Paris in the commune of Saint-Denis.

Another explosion at the stadium reportedly killed three people, and could be heard throughout the outdoor arena.

A soccer game between France and Germany was underway when the explosions occurred. French radio RTL has described the explosion as a suicide attack, but VICE News can’t confirm that report.

 

 

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