The explosion was the first of two blasts at the Stade de France last night during a series of coordinated terrorist attack that have seen at least 127 people dead. Meanwhile, it has emerged that a suicide bomber who tried to enter the packed 80,000 capacity national football stadium was stopped by a heroic security guard.
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The attacker detonated his vest when he was trying to escape from security, according to the Journal’s source, who says he wasn’t there at the time but was briefed on what took place. When they frisked him and discovered that he was wearing an explosive vest, the bomber backed away from the guards and then detonated the vest.
A police officer confirmed the account, adding that police suspect the attacker aimed to detonate his vest inside the stadium in order to trigger a stampede.
Around 2140 – A suicide bomber kills himself inside the restaurant “Le Comptoir Voltaire” on boulevard Voltaire, also in the 11th district, injuring one person severely.
The England-France friendly match scheduled for Tuesday in London will go ahead despite deadly attacks in Paris that left more than 120 dead on Friday, according to the French football federation.
The game continued for the regulation 90 minutes.
ISIS, also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, claimed responsibility for the attacks Friday in Paris.
A soccer match was being played in the stadium when explosions could be heard, and one audience member’s Vine video appears to show the moment of one of the blasts. The Stade de France will host the opener on June 10 and the final a month later.
In the stadium was French President François Hollande, watching the match with relatives of those who died in a German plane crash in the French Alps this March.
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Afterwards the German team was told not to go back to its team hotel, because of safety concerns, so the players stayed inside Stade de France for most of the night.
