Paris attacks November 2015 Paris was attacked
Paris attacks November 2015
Paris was attacked On the evening of 13 November 2015, a series of coordinated terrorist attacks—consisting of mass shootings, suicide bombings, and hostage-taking—occurred in Paris, the capital of France, and its northern suburb, Saint-Denis. Beginning at 21:20 CET, there were three suicide bombings outside the Stade de France, along with mass shootings and another suicide bombing at four locations near central Paris.[10] The deadliest attack was at the Bataclan theatre, where the attackers took hostages before engaging in a stand-off with police until 00:58 on 14 November. The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) claimed responsibility for the attacks,[11][12][13] and French President François Hollande stated that he considered the attack to be "an act of war" carried out by ISIL,[14][15][16] "planned in Syria, organised in Belgium, perpetrated on our soil with French complicity".[17] France had been bombing various targets in the Middle East, including Syria, since October 2015.[18] ISIL's stated motive was retaliation for French involvement in the Syrian Civil War and the Iraqi Civil War.[19][20] The attacks killed 129 people,[2][21] 89 of whom were at the Bataclan theatre.[22] 433 people were admitted to hospital with injuries sustained in the attacks,[5] including 80 described as being critically injured.[6] In addition to the victims, seven attackers died, and the authorities continued to search for any accomplices still at large.[4] The attacks were the deadliest in France since World War II[23][24] and the deadliest in Europe since the Madrid train bombings in 2004.[25] In response, a state of emergency was declared, the first since the 2005 riots,[25] and temporary controls were placed on the country's borders.[26] People and organisations expressed solidarity, some through social media. On 15 November, France launched its largest single airstrike of Opération Chammal, its contribution to the anti-ISIL bombing campaign, by striking targets in Al-Raqqah, in retaliation for the attacks.[27] In the weeks leading up to the attacks, ISIL had claimed responsibility for several attacks, such as twin suicide bombings in Beirut two days earlier, and the crashing of Metrojet Flight 9268 on 31 October. France had been on high alert since the January 2015 attacks in Paris that killed 17 people, including civilians and police officers. France had been on high alert for terrorism since the Charlie Hebdo shooting and a series of related attacks in January 2015,[8] and had increased security in anticipation of the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference, scheduled to be held in Paris from 30 November to 11 December, as well as restoring border checks a week before the attacks.[8] The Charlie Hebdo shooting in January 2015 occurred in the 11th arrondissement (district) of the city, where the Bataclan theatre is situated.[28] France witnessed other, smaller, attacks throughout 2015, including the stabbing of three soldiers in Nice guarding a Jewish community centre in February;[29] an attempt to blow up a factory in Saint-Quentin-Fallavier in June, resulting in the death of an employee;[30] and a shooting and stabbing attack on a train in August.[31] Two Jewish brothers, Pascal and Joël Laloux,[32][33] owned the Bataclan theatre for more than 40 years until they sold it in September 2015.[34] The venue had been threatened several times because of their public support for Israel.[35] In 2011, a group calling itself Army of Islam, believed to be responsible for the murder of a French student in Egypt in 2009, told French security services they had planned an attack on the Bataclan because its owners were Jewish.[35][36][37][38] ISIL and their branches claimed responsibility for numerous deadly attacks which took place in the weeks leading up to the Paris attacks. On 12 November 2015, twin suicide bombings took place in Beirut, Lebanon, killing 43 people. On 31 October 2015, Metrojet Flight 9268, carrying mostly Russian passengers, crashed in the Sinai Peninsula, Egypt, killing 224 people, for which ISIL's Sinai branch claimed responsibility. ISIL social media outlets shared images of weapons, the Eiffel Tower and blessings to the perpetrators 72 hours prior to the attacks.[39] The Paris attacks happened on the first day of the Islamic lunar month of Safar. Since the Islamic lunar calendar year is 11 to 12 days shorter than the solar year, Safar migrates through the seasons. ISIL has referred to the Paris attacks as a "ghazwa" (religious raid).[40] When performed within the context of Islamic warfare, a ghazwa 's function is to weaken and demoralise an enemy in preparation for their eventual conquest and subjugation.[41] Intelligence agencies of Turkey, Iraq, and Israel had warned of an imminent attack on French soil months before and even the day before the attacks but got no response from French authorities. Attacks Three teams[17][44] launched seven distinct attacks,[45] comprising four suicide bombings and six shootings.[46][47] Three explosions occurred near the Stade de France and another on boulevard Voltaire; two of the Bataclan shooters also detonated their suicide vests as police ended the stand-off.[48] Shootings were reported in the vicinity of the rue Alibert, the rue de la Fontaine-au-Roi, the rue de Charonne, the Bataclan theatre, and avenue de la République.[28][49][50][51] According to the Paris prosecutor, the attackers wearing suicide vests used acetone peroxide as an explosive.[52] Stade de France explosions Location of explosions near the Stade de France The McDonald's restaurant Rue Jules-Rimet in front of the Quick restaurant The Events restaurant Three explosions occurred near the country's national sports stadium, the Stade de France, in the suburb of Saint-Denis, resulting in four deaths, including the three suicide bombers.[53] The explosions happened at 21:20, 21:30, and 21:53.[54] The first explosion near the stadium was about 20 minutes after the start of an international friendly football match between France and Germany, which President François Hollande was attending.[55][56] The first bomber was prevented from entering the stadium after a security guard patted him down and discovered the suicide vest;[57] a few seconds after being turned away, he detonated his suicide vest, killing himself and a bystander.[58] Ten minutes after the first bombing, the second bomber blew himself up near the stadium. Another 33 minutes after that, the third bomber detonated his vest nearby at a McDonald's.[57][59][60] President François Hollande was at the Stade de France during the attacks. Hollande was evacuated from the scene at half-time, while the German foreign minister, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, stayed behind.[26][61] Hollande met with his interior minister Bernard Cazeneuve to co-ordinate a response to the emergency.[62] Two of the explosions were heard on the live televised broadcast of the match; both football coaches were informed by French officials of a developing crisis, but players and fans were kept unaware of it until the game had finished.[63] Following the game, fans were brought onto the pitch to await evacuation as police monitored all the exits around the venue.[8] Security sources said all three explosions were suicide bombings.[8] The German national football team was advised not to return to their hotel, where there had been a bomb threat earlier in the day, and they spent the night in the stadium on mattresses, along with the French team, who stayed with them in a display of camaraderie.[64] The attacks were seven months before France was due to host the UEFA Euro 2016 tournament.[57] Street shootings and bombing Rue Bichat and rue Alibert At approximately 21:20, the first shootings occurred on the rue Bichat and the rue Alibert, near the Canal Saint-Martin in the 10th arrondissement. Attackers shot at people outside Le Carillon, a café and bar,[65] before crossing the rue Bichat and shooting people inside the restaurant Le Petit Cambodge. According to French police, eleven people were killed at the restaurant,[26] and an eyewitness said one of the gunmen shouted "Allahu Akbar". The assailants fled in one or two vehicles after the shootings.[66] One vehicle had a Belgian number plate.[67] Doctors and nurses from the nearby Hôpital Saint-Louis were in Le Carillon when the attacks happened and supplied emergency assistance to the wounded.[67] Rue de la Fontaine-au-Roi At 21:32, a man with a machine gun fired shots outside Café Bonne Bière,[54] close to the Italian restaurant La Casa Nostra, on the rue de la Fontaine-au-Roi south of the rue Bichat. The Paris prosecutor said five people were killed and eight were injured.[26] An eyewitness reported a gunman firing short bursts.[68] Rue de Charonne At approximately 21:36, two attackers fired shots for several minutes at the outdoor terrace of the restaurant La Belle Équipe on the rue de Charonne in the 11th arrondissement before returning to their car and driving away.[55][69] Nineteen people were killed and nine were left in a critical condition.[69] Boulevard Voltaire bombing At about 21:40, an attacker detonated his suicide vest on the boulevard Voltaire, also in the 11th arrondissement, near place de la Nation.[8] He sat down in the Comptoir Voltaire café and placed an order before detonating his suicide vest and killing himself. Fifteen people were injured, one of them seriously.[69][70] Bataclan theatre massacre The Bataclan theatre in 2009 At approximately 21:45, a mass shooting and hostage-taking occurred at the Bataclan theatre on the boulevard Voltaire in the 11th arrondissement. The American rock and roll band Eagles of Death Metal[71] was playing at the time to an audience of around 1,500 people.[26][61] About an hour into the concert,[72] three dark-clad men with AK-47 assault rifles entered the hall.[8] Witnesses heard shouts of "Allahu Akbar" just before the gunmen opened fire on the crowd.[8][73] Initially, the audience mistook the gunfire for pyrotechnics.[74][75] The attack lasted 20 minutes, and witnesses also reported seeing the attackers throw hand grenades into the crowd.[73] A radio reporter attending the concert described the attackers as calm and determined, telling CNN they had reloaded three or four times.[73] Around 22:00, the attackers took 60–100 concertgoers hostage as police gathered outside the venue.[26][28][73] The band's members escaped without injury.[76] A witness who escaped the attack told a journalist that the gunmen had mentioned Syria.[74][77] One witness in the Bataclan said a gunman yelled, "This is because of all the harm done by Hollande to Muslims all over the world."[78][79] There were further attacks on police and first responders who arrived at the scene.[80] From 00:15 to 00:58, the police launched an assault on the theatre after reports the attackers had begun killing hostages.[8][73][81] Initial police reports estimated that 100 people were killed at the theatre,[62][74] but the toll was later revised to 89.[22] Two attackers died by detonating their suicide vests.[8][73][74] Another was hit by police gunfire and his vest blew up when he fell.[8] The area was cordoned off after the attacks.[82] Identification and removal of bodies from the theatre took 10 hours, a process made difficult because some audience members had left their identification papers in the Bataclan's cloakroom.[83] Perpetrators On 14 November, President François Hollande said ISIL organised the attacks abroad with help from inside France.[16] Syrian and Egyptian passports were found near the bodies of two of the perpetrators at two attack sites;[84] Egyptian authorities said the passport belonged to a victim, Aleed Abdel-Razzak, and not one of the perpetrators.[85] As of late on 16 November 2015, according to The New York Times, French and Belgian security services were focused on the radical jihadist they believed was the leader of the plot, Abdelhamid Abaaoud,[86] a Belgian of Moroccan origin who had escaped to Syria[87] after having been suspected in other plots in Belgium and France, including the thwarted 2015 Thalys train attack.[88] Abaaoud had developed an extensive network of accomplices, including Ibrahim and Salah Abdeslam, to execute terrorist attacks.[89] Identification Three teams executed the attacks, according to the Paris prosecutor. They wore explosive vests with identical detonators.[90] One of the suicide bombers had previously been arrested eight times, but had not been linked to terrorism.[90] Seven of the perpetrators died at the scenes.[4][91] Three suicide bombers detonated their vests near the Stade de France. A Syrian passport with the name Ahmad Al Mohammad[91] was found on one of the suicide bombers, according to French prosecutor's office.[91] The authenticity of the passport was questioned and analysts pointed out that false Syrian passports can easily be obtained.[92][93][94] French officials declared that "Ahmad Al Mohammad" is probably a dead Syrian soldier who was killed in Syria and whose passport was stolen.[95][96] Minister of Citizen Protection in Greece Nikos Toskas said that one of the Syrian passport-holders had passed through Leros in October. The man had been registered and fingerprinted after having arrived by boat from Turkey.[97] Bilal Hadfi, a 20-year-old Belgian who previously fought in Syria with ISIL for over a year and a supporter of Boko Haram.[98] Abbdulakbak B.[99] Ibrahim Abdeslam, a French 31-year-old member of the Molenbeek terror cell living in Belgium, detonated his vest at the Comptoir Voltaire restaurant on the boulevard Voltaire near the Bataclan theatre.[8][98] He was born in France, on 30 July 1984.[100] Three attacked the Bataclan theatre wearing black clothing and using AK-47 assault rifles.[8] Two killed themselves with their suicide vests during the police raid on the theatre. The third was killed by police gunfire just before his vest detonated.[8] According to French police, suspects included: Samy Amimour, a 28-year-old from Paris who fought in Yemen.[101] He had reportedly been on the run from police for two years prior to the attack, due to terrorism related charges.[102] A man carrying a passport which identified him as a 25-year-old Syrian native Ahmad Almuhammad[98] (or Ahmad Al Mohammad[91]). The passport, which is likely to be a forgery made in Turkey, suggested that the man entered France through Greece and Macedonia.[103] Fingerprint similarities were found between those taken from the scene in Paris and those taken during a control in Greece.[104] Omar Ismaïl Mostefaï, a 29-year-old from the Paris suburb of Courcouronnes, identified as a bomber by a severed finger found inside the theatre.[98][105] Mostefaï was born to an Algerian father and a Portuguese mother and converted to Islam.[106][107][108][109] A second gunman was found with a passport of a Syrian man who had been born in 1980. The man on the passport was not previously known to French police.[52] At least one man with a possible connection to the attacks had entered the EU via Greece as a Syrian refugee in October, but the Greek police are not ruling out that the passport changed hands before the attacks.[110] Serbia's interior ministry said his details match those of a suspected terrorist, identified by Serbian authorities only by his initials as Ahmed Almuhamed.[111] On 15 November 2015, François Molins, the Paris prosecutor, identified two more of the terrorists, stating that one of the men was among the suicide bombers outside the Stade de France and that he was born in France on 22 January 1995. Search for further attackers Three cars were recovered in Paris after the attacks. One, a Volkswagen Polo with Belgian number plates abandoned near the Bataclan theatre, was rented by a French citizen living in Belgium, and contained a parking ticket from the town of Molenbeek.[112] The other car, a black Seat, was found in the Paris suburb of Montreuil on 15 November, and contained assault rifles.[113] A black Renault Clio which had been rented by Salah Abdeslam was discovered on Tuesday, 11 November near Montmartre and also contained assault rifles.[114][115] On 14 November, a car was stopped at the Belgium–France border and its three occupants were questioned but then released. Three more people were arrested in Molenbeek.[116] Links to the ISIL attack in France were investigated in an arrest in Germany on 5 November, when police stopped a 51-year-old man from Montenegro and found automatic handguns, hand grenades and explosives in his car.[117] As of 15 November, the French authorities were trying to locate Salah Abdeslam, a 26-year-old Belgian citizen, describing him as dangerous and warning the public not to approach him.[118] According to Belgian officials, his brother, Ibrahim Abdeslam, died in the three-hour massacre on 13 November.[119] Another brother, Mohamed, was detained on 14 November in the Molenbeek area of Brussels but was released after several hours of questioning.[120] Mohamed said he had no reason to suspect his siblings of planning anything.[121] On 15–16 November, French tactical police units raided over 200 locations in northern and southern France and arrested 23 people and seized weapons.[122] 23 people were detained and a further 104 placed under house arrest.[123][124] A flat in the northern Parisian suburb of Saint Denis was raided by police on 18 November resulting in seven arrests and the detonation of an explosive vest.[125] At least two people and a police dog died at the scene, and five policemen were lightly injured.[126] Analysis of tactics Michael Leiter, former director of the United States National Counterterrorism Center, said that the attacks demonstrated great sophistication not seen in a city attack since the 2008 Mumbai attacks and that it would change how the West regards the threat.[127] Further comparisons were made between the Paris attacks and the Mumbai attacks.[128][129][130] Mumbai Police said there were similarities between the two attacks. Mumbai Police Joint Commissioner (Law and Order) Deven Bharti stated "Prima facie the similarity is this- the involvement of multiple targets, indiscriminate firing and use of IEDs."[131][132] According to Bharti, the key difference was that unlike in Mumbai, the attackers in Paris did not attempt to prolong the attack and blew themselves up at the first hint of capture.[133] ISIL responsibility ISIL claimed responsibility for the attacks on the morning of 14 November.[134][135][136][137] Less than a day after the attacks, the Al-Hayat Media Group, their media organ, launched a website on the dark web extolling them and recommending the encrypted instant messaging service Telegram.[138][139] Claimed motives include ideological objection to Paris as a capital of "abomination and perversion",[140] retaliation for French airstrikes in Syria and Iraq[19] as well as the foreign policy of François Hollande in relation to Muslims worldwide.[141] Victims Victims by citizenship Citizenship Deaths France * TBA Belgium * 3[142][a] Chile 3[143] Spain 3[144] Algeria 2[145] Egypt * 2[146] Germany 2[147][148] Mexico * 2[143] Portugal * 2[149] Romania 2[150][151] Senegal 2[149] Tunisia 2[149] Italy 1[152][153] Morocco 1[149] Russia 1[154] Sweden 1[74] Turkey * 1[155][156][b] UK 1[143] USA * 1[149] Venezuela 1[157][158] Total 129[74] * Some victims had multiple citizenships. Counts are based on preliminary data and may not be complete. The attacks killed 129 victims and injured 433,[5] with 80 taken to hospital in a serious condition.[6] Of the victims, 89 died at the Bataclan theatre, 15 at Le Carillon and Le Petit Cambodge, 5 at Café Bonne Bière and La Casa Nostra, 1 at Stade de France, and 19 at La Belle Équipe.[2] Victims were confirmed from at least 26 countries (some holding multiple citizenships). Among those who died at the Bataclan were a music critic of Les Inrockuptibles,[159] an executive of Mercury Records France,[160] and the merchandise manager of Eagles of Death Metal.[161][162]
Paris was attacked On the evening of 13 November 2015, a series of coordinated terrorist attacks—consisting of mass shootings, suicide bombings, and hostage-taking—occurred in Paris, the capital of France, and its northern suburb, Saint-Denis. Beginning at 21:20 CET, there were three suicide bombings outside the Stade de France, along with mass shootings and another suicide bombing at four locations near central Paris.[10] The deadliest attack was at the Bataclan theatre, where the attackers took hostages before engaging in a stand-off with police until 00:58 on 14 November. The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) claimed responsibility for the attacks,[11][12][13] and French President François Hollande stated that he considered the attack to be "an act of war" carried out by ISIL,[14][15][16] "planned in Syria, organised in Belgium, perpetrated on our soil with French complicity".[17] France had been bombing various targets in the Middle East, including Syria, since October 2015.[18] ISIL's stated motive was retaliation for French involvement in the Syrian Civil War and the Iraqi Civil War.[19][20] The attacks killed 129 people,[2][21] 89 of whom were at the Bataclan theatre.[22] 433 people were admitted to hospital with injuries sustained in the attacks,[5] including 80 described as being critically injured.[6] In addition to the victims, seven attackers died, and the authorities continued to search for any accomplices still at large.[4] The attacks were the deadliest in France since World War II[23][24] and the deadliest in Europe since the Madrid train bombings in 2004.[25] In response, a state of emergency was declared, the first since the 2005 riots,[25] and temporary controls were placed on the country's borders.[26] People and organisations expressed solidarity, some through social media. On 15 November, France launched its largest single airstrike of Opération Chammal, its contribution to the anti-ISIL bombing campaign, by striking targets in Al-Raqqah, in retaliation for the attacks.[27] In the weeks leading up to the attacks, ISIL had claimed responsibility for several attacks, such as twin suicide bombings in Beirut two days earlier, and the crashing of Metrojet Flight 9268 on 31 October. France had been on high alert since the January 2015 attacks in Paris that killed 17 people, including civilians and police officers. France had been on high alert for terrorism since the Charlie Hebdo shooting and a series of related attacks in January 2015,[8] and had increased security in anticipation of the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference, scheduled to be held in Paris from 30 November to 11 December, as well as restoring border checks a week before the attacks.[8] The Charlie Hebdo shooting in January 2015 occurred in the 11th arrondissement (district) of the city, where the Bataclan theatre is situated.[28] France witnessed other, smaller, attacks throughout 2015, including the stabbing of three soldiers in Nice guarding a Jewish community centre in February;[29] an attempt to blow up a factory in Saint-Quentin-Fallavier in June, resulting in the death of an employee;[30] and a shooting and stabbing attack on a train in August.[31] Two Jewish brothers, Pascal and Joël Laloux,[32][33] owned the Bataclan theatre for more than 40 years until they sold it in September 2015.[34] The venue had been threatened several times because of their public support for Israel.[35] In 2011, a group calling itself Army of Islam, believed to be responsible for the murder of a French student in Egypt in 2009, told French security services they had planned an attack on the Bataclan because its owners were Jewish.[35][36][37][38] ISIL and their branches claimed responsibility for numerous deadly attacks which took place in the weeks leading up to the Paris attacks. On 12 November 2015, twin suicide bombings took place in Beirut, Lebanon, killing 43 people. On 31 October 2015, Metrojet Flight 9268, carrying mostly Russian passengers, crashed in the Sinai Peninsula, Egypt, killing 224 people, for which ISIL's Sinai branch claimed responsibility. ISIL social media outlets shared images of weapons, the Eiffel Tower and blessings to the perpetrators 72 hours prior to the attacks.[39] The Paris attacks happened on the first day of the Islamic lunar month of Safar. Since the Islamic lunar calendar year is 11 to 12 days shorter than the solar year, Safar migrates through the seasons. ISIL has referred to the Paris attacks as a "ghazwa" (religious raid).[40] When performed within the context of Islamic warfare, a ghazwa 's function is to weaken and demoralise an enemy in preparation for their eventual conquest and subjugation.[41] Intelligence agencies of Turkey, Iraq, and Israel had warned of an imminent attack on French soil months before and even the day before the attacks but got no response from French authorities. Attacks Three teams[17][44] launched seven distinct attacks,[45] comprising four suicide bombings and six shootings.[46][47] Three explosions occurred near the Stade de France and another on boulevard Voltaire; two of the Bataclan shooters also detonated their suicide vests as police ended the stand-off.[48] Shootings were reported in the vicinity of the rue Alibert, the rue de la Fontaine-au-Roi, the rue de Charonne, the Bataclan theatre, and avenue de la République.[28][49][50][51] According to the Paris prosecutor, the attackers wearing suicide vests used acetone peroxide as an explosive.[52] Stade de France explosions Location of explosions near the Stade de France The McDonald's restaurant Rue Jules-Rimet in front of the Quick restaurant The Events restaurant Three explosions occurred near the country's national sports stadium, the Stade de France, in the suburb of Saint-Denis, resulting in four deaths, including the three suicide bombers.[53] The explosions happened at 21:20, 21:30, and 21:53.[54] The first explosion near the stadium was about 20 minutes after the start of an international friendly football match between France and Germany, which President François Hollande was attending.[55][56] The first bomber was prevented from entering the stadium after a security guard patted him down and discovered the suicide vest;[57] a few seconds after being turned away, he detonated his suicide vest, killing himself and a bystander.[58] Ten minutes after the first bombing, the second bomber blew himself up near the stadium. Another 33 minutes after that, the third bomber detonated his vest nearby at a McDonald's.[57][59][60] President François Hollande was at the Stade de France during the attacks. Hollande was evacuated from the scene at half-time, while the German foreign minister, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, stayed behind.[26][61] Hollande met with his interior minister Bernard Cazeneuve to co-ordinate a response to the emergency.[62] Two of the explosions were heard on the live televised broadcast of the match; both football coaches were informed by French officials of a developing crisis, but players and fans were kept unaware of it until the game had finished.[63] Following the game, fans were brought onto the pitch to await evacuation as police monitored all the exits around the venue.[8] Security sources said all three explosions were suicide bombings.[8] The German national football team was advised not to return to their hotel, where there had been a bomb threat earlier in the day, and they spent the night in the stadium on mattresses, along with the French team, who stayed with them in a display of camaraderie.[64] The attacks were seven months before France was due to host the UEFA Euro 2016 tournament.[57] Street shootings and bombing Rue Bichat and rue Alibert At approximately 21:20, the first shootings occurred on the rue Bichat and the rue Alibert, near the Canal Saint-Martin in the 10th arrondissement. Attackers shot at people outside Le Carillon, a café and bar,[65] before crossing the rue Bichat and shooting people inside the restaurant Le Petit Cambodge. According to French police, eleven people were killed at the restaurant,[26] and an eyewitness said one of the gunmen shouted "Allahu Akbar". The assailants fled in one or two vehicles after the shootings.[66] One vehicle had a Belgian number plate.[67] Doctors and nurses from the nearby Hôpital Saint-Louis were in Le Carillon when the attacks happened and supplied emergency assistance to the wounded.[67] Rue de la Fontaine-au-Roi At 21:32, a man with a machine gun fired shots outside Café Bonne Bière,[54] close to the Italian restaurant La Casa Nostra, on the rue de la Fontaine-au-Roi south of the rue Bichat. The Paris prosecutor said five people were killed and eight were injured.[26] An eyewitness reported a gunman firing short bursts.[68] Rue de Charonne At approximately 21:36, two attackers fired shots for several minutes at the outdoor terrace of the restaurant La Belle Équipe on the rue de Charonne in the 11th arrondissement before returning to their car and driving away.[55][69] Nineteen people were killed and nine were left in a critical condition.[69] Boulevard Voltaire bombing At about 21:40, an attacker detonated his suicide vest on the boulevard Voltaire, also in the 11th arrondissement, near place de la Nation.[8] He sat down in the Comptoir Voltaire café and placed an order before detonating his suicide vest and killing himself. Fifteen people were injured, one of them seriously.[69][70] Bataclan theatre massacre The Bataclan theatre in 2009 At approximately 21:45, a mass shooting and hostage-taking occurred at the Bataclan theatre on the boulevard Voltaire in the 11th arrondissement. The American rock and roll band Eagles of Death Metal[71] was playing at the time to an audience of around 1,500 people.[26][61] About an hour into the concert,[72] three dark-clad men with AK-47 assault rifles entered the hall.[8] Witnesses heard shouts of "Allahu Akbar" just before the gunmen opened fire on the crowd.[8][73] Initially, the audience mistook the gunfire for pyrotechnics.[74][75] The attack lasted 20 minutes, and witnesses also reported seeing the attackers throw hand grenades into the crowd.[73] A radio reporter attending the concert described the attackers as calm and determined, telling CNN they had reloaded three or four times.[73] Around 22:00, the attackers took 60–100 concertgoers hostage as police gathered outside the venue.[26][28][73] The band's members escaped without injury.[76] A witness who escaped the attack told a journalist that the gunmen had mentioned Syria.[74][77] One witness in the Bataclan said a gunman yelled, "This is because of all the harm done by Hollande to Muslims all over the world."[78][79] There were further attacks on police and first responders who arrived at the scene.[80] From 00:15 to 00:58, the police launched an assault on the theatre after reports the attackers had begun killing hostages.[8][73][81] Initial police reports estimated that 100 people were killed at the theatre,[62][74] but the toll was later revised to 89.[22] Two attackers died by detonating their suicide vests.[8][73][74] Another was hit by police gunfire and his vest blew up when he fell.[8] The area was cordoned off after the attacks.[82] Identification and removal of bodies from the theatre took 10 hours, a process made difficult because some audience members had left their identification papers in the Bataclan's cloakroom.[83] Perpetrators On 14 November, President François Hollande said ISIL organised the attacks abroad with help from inside France.[16] Syrian and Egyptian passports were found near the bodies of two of the perpetrators at two attack sites;[84] Egyptian authorities said the passport belonged to a victim, Aleed Abdel-Razzak, and not one of the perpetrators.[85] As of late on 16 November 2015, according to The New York Times, French and Belgian security services were focused on the radical jihadist they believed was the leader of the plot, Abdelhamid Abaaoud,[86] a Belgian of Moroccan origin who had escaped to Syria[87] after having been suspected in other plots in Belgium and France, including the thwarted 2015 Thalys train attack.[88] Abaaoud had developed an extensive network of accomplices, including Ibrahim and Salah Abdeslam, to execute terrorist attacks.[89] Identification Three teams executed the attacks, according to the Paris prosecutor. They wore explosive vests with identical detonators.[90] One of the suicide bombers had previously been arrested eight times, but had not been linked to terrorism.[90] Seven of the perpetrators died at the scenes.[4][91] Three suicide bombers detonated their vests near the Stade de France. A Syrian passport with the name Ahmad Al Mohammad[91] was found on one of the suicide bombers, according to French prosecutor's office.[91] The authenticity of the passport was questioned and analysts pointed out that false Syrian passports can easily be obtained.[92][93][94] French officials declared that "Ahmad Al Mohammad" is probably a dead Syrian soldier who was killed in Syria and whose passport was stolen.[95][96] Minister of Citizen Protection in Greece Nikos Toskas said that one of the Syrian passport-holders had passed through Leros in October. The man had been registered and fingerprinted after having arrived by boat from Turkey.[97] Bilal Hadfi, a 20-year-old Belgian who previously fought in Syria with ISIL for over a year and a supporter of Boko Haram.[98] Abbdulakbak B.[99] Ibrahim Abdeslam, a French 31-year-old member of the Molenbeek terror cell living in Belgium, detonated his vest at the Comptoir Voltaire restaurant on the boulevard Voltaire near the Bataclan theatre.[8][98] He was born in France, on 30 July 1984.[100] Three attacked the Bataclan theatre wearing black clothing and using AK-47 assault rifles.[8] Two killed themselves with their suicide vests during the police raid on the theatre. The third was killed by police gunfire just before his vest detonated.[8] According to French police, suspects included: Samy Amimour, a 28-year-old from Paris who fought in Yemen.[101] He had reportedly been on the run from police for two years prior to the attack, due to terrorism related charges.[102] A man carrying a passport which identified him as a 25-year-old Syrian native Ahmad Almuhammad[98] (or Ahmad Al Mohammad[91]). The passport, which is likely to be a forgery made in Turkey, suggested that the man entered France through Greece and Macedonia.[103] Fingerprint similarities were found between those taken from the scene in Paris and those taken during a control in Greece.[104] Omar Ismaïl Mostefaï, a 29-year-old from the Paris suburb of Courcouronnes, identified as a bomber by a severed finger found inside the theatre.[98][105] Mostefaï was born to an Algerian father and a Portuguese mother and converted to Islam.[106][107][108][109] A second gunman was found with a passport of a Syrian man who had been born in 1980. The man on the passport was not previously known to French police.[52] At least one man with a possible connection to the attacks had entered the EU via Greece as a Syrian refugee in October, but the Greek police are not ruling out that the passport changed hands before the attacks.[110] Serbia's interior ministry said his details match those of a suspected terrorist, identified by Serbian authorities only by his initials as Ahmed Almuhamed.[111] On 15 November 2015, François Molins, the Paris prosecutor, identified two more of the terrorists, stating that one of the men was among the suicide bombers outside the Stade de France and that he was born in France on 22 January 1995. Search for further attackers Three cars were recovered in Paris after the attacks. One, a Volkswagen Polo with Belgian number plates abandoned near the Bataclan theatre, was rented by a French citizen living in Belgium, and contained a parking ticket from the town of Molenbeek.[112] The other car, a black Seat, was found in the Paris suburb of Montreuil on 15 November, and contained assault rifles.[113] A black Renault Clio which had been rented by Salah Abdeslam was discovered on Tuesday, 11 November near Montmartre and also contained assault rifles.[114][115] On 14 November, a car was stopped at the Belgium–France border and its three occupants were questioned but then released. Three more people were arrested in Molenbeek.[116] Links to the ISIL attack in France were investigated in an arrest in Germany on 5 November, when police stopped a 51-year-old man from Montenegro and found automatic handguns, hand grenades and explosives in his car.[117] As of 15 November, the French authorities were trying to locate Salah Abdeslam, a 26-year-old Belgian citizen, describing him as dangerous and warning the public not to approach him.[118] According to Belgian officials, his brother, Ibrahim Abdeslam, died in the three-hour massacre on 13 November.[119] Another brother, Mohamed, was detained on 14 November in the Molenbeek area of Brussels but was released after several hours of questioning.[120] Mohamed said he had no reason to suspect his siblings of planning anything.[121] On 15–16 November, French tactical police units raided over 200 locations in northern and southern France and arrested 23 people and seized weapons.[122] 23 people were detained and a further 104 placed under house arrest.[123][124] A flat in the northern Parisian suburb of Saint Denis was raided by police on 18 November resulting in seven arrests and the detonation of an explosive vest.[125] At least two people and a police dog died at the scene, and five policemen were lightly injured.[126] Analysis of tactics Michael Leiter, former director of the United States National Counterterrorism Center, said that the attacks demonstrated great sophistication not seen in a city attack since the 2008 Mumbai attacks and that it would change how the West regards the threat.[127] Further comparisons were made between the Paris attacks and the Mumbai attacks.[128][129][130] Mumbai Police said there were similarities between the two attacks. Mumbai Police Joint Commissioner (Law and Order) Deven Bharti stated "Prima facie the similarity is this- the involvement of multiple targets, indiscriminate firing and use of IEDs."[131][132] According to Bharti, the key difference was that unlike in Mumbai, the attackers in Paris did not attempt to prolong the attack and blew themselves up at the first hint of capture.[133] ISIL responsibility ISIL claimed responsibility for the attacks on the morning of 14 November.[134][135][136][137] Less than a day after the attacks, the Al-Hayat Media Group, their media organ, launched a website on the dark web extolling them and recommending the encrypted instant messaging service Telegram.[138][139] Claimed motives include ideological objection to Paris as a capital of "abomination and perversion",[140] retaliation for French airstrikes in Syria and Iraq[19] as well as the foreign policy of François Hollande in relation to Muslims worldwide.[141] Victims Victims by citizenship Citizenship Deaths France * TBA Belgium * 3[142][a] Chile 3[143] Spain 3[144] Algeria 2[145] Egypt * 2[146] Germany 2[147][148] Mexico * 2[143] Portugal * 2[149] Romania 2[150][151] Senegal 2[149] Tunisia 2[149] Italy 1[152][153] Morocco 1[149] Russia 1[154] Sweden 1[74] Turkey * 1[155][156][b] UK 1[143] USA * 1[149] Venezuela 1[157][158] Total 129[74] * Some victims had multiple citizenships. Counts are based on preliminary data and may not be complete. The attacks killed 129 victims and injured 433,[5] with 80 taken to hospital in a serious condition.[6] Of the victims, 89 died at the Bataclan theatre, 15 at Le Carillon and Le Petit Cambodge, 5 at Café Bonne Bière and La Casa Nostra, 1 at Stade de France, and 19 at La Belle Équipe.[2] Victims were confirmed from at least 26 countries (some holding multiple citizenships). Among those who died at the Bataclan were a music critic of Les Inrockuptibles,[159] an executive of Mercury Records France,[160] and the merchandise manager of Eagles of Death Metal.[161][162]
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