In coordination with the Federal Bureau of Investigation and other agencies, U.S. Justice Department attorneys are working with French authorities to obtain further information that may be relevant to the Paris attacks, a Justice Department official said on Saturday. The Eiffel Tower and other public gathering spaces are closed. He declined to be identified.
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Ominously, Greek officials said one and perhaps two of the assailants had passed through Greece from Turkey alongside Syrian refugees fleeing violence in their homeland.
Details about the terror cell which carried out the attack have started to emerge as authorities across Europe carried out investigations.
A total of 89 people were killed there by armed men who burst in shouting “Allahu akbar” (“God is greatest!”) before gunning down concert-goers and executing hostages.
Bullet holes scar the windows of the Carillon restaurant on Rue Alibert in Paris Nov 14, 2015, the morning after an attack which killed 12 people at the restaurant.
Decisions by leisure and business travellers could hinge on whether the Paris attacks are seen as a one-time event or the vanguard of a stepped-up campaign by Islamic radicals.
The horrific terrorist attacks at different locations in Paris that left over 120 innocent people dead and hundreds more injured is inhuman, appalling and outrageous, and should not go unpunished.
“We know of one death already, we fear there may be a handful of British fatalities and about the same number are being treated for their injuries in hospital”, the source said.
Sydney FC football fans held up a vast French tricolore ahead of an A-League match against Melbourne Victory while the ice was illuminated in red, white and blue before a Washington Capitals NHL game with Calgary Flames.
France has been on edge since January, when Islamic extremists attacked the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo, which had run cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad, and a kosher grocery.
Soldiers stand on the tarmac of the Charles de Gaulle airport, north of Paris, as part of a security reinforcements, Saturday, Nov.14, 2015.
The Paris attacks were “prepared, organised and planned overseas, with help from inside (France)”, Hollande said.
Schools will open on Monday, however – a day that has been chosen for a national moment of silence in honour of the attack victims.
In a statement from the UAE press agency, President Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan offered his condolences to French President Francois Hollande, who had earlier declared a state of emergency across the country after the attacks.
France ordered increased security at its missions overseas. Six attackers blew themselves up and one was shot by police.
“We said, don’t take what is happening in Syria lightly”.
Just then, gunmen in a black Seat attack Charonne street, killing 19 people.
All three, who were arrested by Belgian authorities, were residents of the Brussels region, he said, adding that none of the three were known previously to French intelligence.
In August, a Moroccan national, Ayoub el-Khazzani, attempted to launch a gun attack on a high speed train on the Belgian-French border but the attack was thwarted by the heroic intervention of three Americans.
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“The big question on everyone’s mind is: Were these attackers – if they turn out to be connected to one of the groups in Syria – were they homegrown terrorists or were they returning fighters?” said Brian Michael Jenkins, a terrorism expert.
