‘128 killed’ as shootings, explosions rock Paris

At least 128 persons were killed during series of attacks in different parts of Paris, capital of France, on Friday, according to CNN.

President Francois Hollande, who has declared a state of emergency and closure of the country’s borders, said the attacks were “unprecedented”.

Mail Online reported that 11 were killed in a restaurant shootout and 15 at the Bataclan concert hall in the city, where over 100 people were held hostage.

A witness told Al Jazeera that several men entered the hall and started firing into the air. An American band called ‘Eagles of Death Metal’ was playing to a packed crowd of close to a thousand.

Attackers held as many as 100 hostages for several hours until French security forces raided the venue and defeated the hostage-takers, who were reportedly executing people inside.

Nick Holden, dining at a restaurant in central Paris, told Al Jazeera what he saw in the first moments after the shootings.

“A lady came in crying. We assumed some sort of domestic dispute, and someone said she had seen someone shot,” Holden said.

“We couldn’t believe what was said until we heard the sirens and people started to run, and that’s what we did.”

Some people were also said to have been killed outside the Stade de France sports stadium where the French football team was playing a friendly match against Germany.

“It’s an abomination, an act of barbarism. We must be merciless in the face of this terror,” Hollande said.

Machine-gun fire and screams were heard from inside a restaurant on Rue Bichat, close to where the Charlie Hebdo shootings occurred in January.

A man who was inside the theatre when the gunmen entered told a French radio station that the men shouted ‘Allah Akbar’ as they opened fire.

“The men came in and started shooting. Everyone fell to the ground. It was hell. I took my mum, and we hid. Someone near us said they have gone, so we ran out,” he said.

“I was only thinking of escaping. We’re out now. I think people are still inside. It’s a nightmare – a nightmare.”

Another witness claimed that the attackers also shouted: “This is for Syria.”

“We are all terrified, and have been told to get away as soon as possible,’ said Gilles Avel, a 19-year-old student who was enjoying a night out with friends close to the Bataclan.

“There were shots and then lots of people running. We knew there was a rock concert going on in the Bataclan.”

Ben Grant, a witness, who was in a nearby bar with his wife at the time, told BBC that he saw six or seven bodies on the ground.

“I was told people in cars had opened fire on the bar. There are lots of dead people. It’s pretty horrific to be honest,” he said.

“I was at the back of the bar. I couldn’t see anything. I heard gunshots. People dropped to the ground. We put a table over our heads to protect us. We were held up in the bar because there was a pile of bodies in front of us.”

Emilioi Macchio from Italy was at a bar close to where the restaurant shooting took place, and said it “sounded like fireworks”.

Paris’ deputy mayor said the attacks were a horrific reminder of the Charlie Hebdo massacre in January.

“It’s a heavy recollection of what happened in January (C. Hebdo). Now we are struck again. This is harder. I am shaken,” he said.

France has been on edge since ISIS launched a bloody attack on the satirical newspaper and a kosher grocery that left 20 people – including the three attackers – dead.

This is the eighth attack in France in the last three years.