IS jihadists kill 129 people in wave of attacks across Paris lNo Indian among casualties
Paris/NEWDELHI : At least 129 people were killed in a series of coordinated attacks by suicide bombers and gunmen in Paris at a concert hall, restaurants and the national sports stadium claimed by Islamic State jihadists on Saturday.
French President Francois Hollande blamed the Islamic extremist group for the bloodshed and called the coordinated assault last night at six different sites an “act of war”. Authorities identified the body of a French national known to the intelligence services near the Bataclan concert hall, where 82 people were killed by armed men who had shouted “Allahu akbar” (“God is greatest!”) before gunning down concert-goers.
Police sources said he was probably one of those who stormed the building as around 1,500 people were watching a Californian rock band.
The recovery of a Syrian passport near the body of another of the assailants at the concert hall appeared to justify fears over the threat posed to Europe by extremism in the Middle East.
The attacks, which saw the first-ever suicide bombings on French soil, were “prepared, organised and planned overseas, with help from inside (France) which the investigation will establish,” Hollande said. Analysts at Eurasia Group said the attacks “confirm a structural shift in the modus operandi of the Islamic State, and represent a prelude to additional attacks in the West.”
Like those attacks, the massacre sparked an outpouring of emotion around the world, with London’s Tower Bridge, Berlin’s Brandenberg Gate and New York’s World Trade Center all illuminated in the red, white and blue of the French tricolore. Shocked survivors told how eight militants, all wearing suicide vests, stalked the city, indiscriminately gunning down people at bars and restaurants on a busy Friday night.
No Indian among casualties : No Indian has been identified yet among the casualties of the deadly Paris terror attacks, French Ambassador to India Francois Richier and India’s External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj said on Saturday.
“At this stage, no Indian national has been identified among the casualties,” the French envoy said in a statement in Delhi.Sushma Swaraj tweeted: “I have spoken to Ambassador in France. He has informed me that all Indians are safe. France has advised citizens to stay indoors.” (Agencies)