As more and more details of the attacks on Paris come in, so do witness accounts from people who were at the site of the shootings when they occurred.
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French President Francois Hollande said Saturday that ISIS was responsible for Friday’s series of deadly attacks. “They also spoke about Iraq”, said Pierre Janaszak, a radio presenter.
– Four people were killed outside the sports stadium in Saint-Denis, a suburb north of Paris: three suicide bombers and a man who had been walking by, Molins said.
“People inside #Bataclan begging police to raid the theatre because the terrorists are slaughtering them one by one”, CNN Australia anchor Michael Holmes tweeted Friday night.
Pearce says he told the people around him to hide and play dead.
Three terrorists were killed during the retaking of the Bataclan concert hall where more than 100 people were being held hostage. “It lasted for 10 minutes”.
A separate assault also took place at a restaurant and bar in the city’s 10th district, leaving 11 people dead, according to The Associated Press. “France must be strong and great”, he said.
At least 112 people were killed in the attack at Bataclan, the French interior ministry said.
“[There were] a dozen corpses on the ground in pools of blood, including a young girl who had two bullet holes that I was able to carry about fifty 50 metres” to give to firefighters, he said. Regrettably, French authorities couldn’t save the lives of the reported 118 people killed inside.
The French security forces have killed two of the gunmen who were behind the Paris attacks in which over 40 persons had been killed.
“It was a bloodbath inside the theater”, recalled survivor Julien Pearce.
REUTERS/Christian HartmannPeople gathered near the Bataclan concert hall after fatal shootings in Paris on Friday night. When the gunshots stopped, we took advantage of the temporary calm to leave through the emergency exit. Coulibaly was killed when police stormed the kosher market.
According to Le Monde, roughly 1,000 people were at the rock concert.
Jerome Boucer, shivering in the cold night wearing a white shirt splattered with the blood of the victims and wounded said: “The concert had started”. Police said the attackers threw explosives at the hostages, in addition to opening fire on them. I was at the far side of the hall when shooting began. There seemed to be at least two gunmen.
A woman in her 20s in a fur-collared coat had been drinking in a nearby bar when people fleeing the intial shooting at the Bataclan ran into the bar.
“They had 20 hostages, and we could hear them talking with them”, said Janaszak, who was hiding with several others in the toilet.
– U.S. President Barack Obama pledged solidarity with France, saying, “We’ve seen an outrageous attempt to terrorize innocent civilians”.
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– Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El Sisi called Hollande to offer condolences. One of the former owners was called by a current theater staff member during the terror attack, and heard gunshots and screaming.
