2015-11-15 HKT 05:22
Francois Hollande addresses his country from the Elysee Palace. Photo: Reuters
French President Francois Hollande promised a “merciless” response to the attacks by gunmen and bombers that killed 129 people across Paris, describing the assault as an act of war by Islamic State.
As a cross-border investigation gathered pace, prosecutors said the co-ordinated assault on restaurants, a concert hall and the national football stadium appeared to have been carried out by a multinational team with links to the Middle East and Belgium as well as home-grown French roots.
In the worst carnage, gunmen systematically killed at least 89 people at a rock concert by an American band at the Bataclan music hall before blowing themselves up as anti-terrorist commandos launched an assault. About 40 more people were killed in five other attacks in the Paris region, including a double suicide bombing outside the Stade de France stadium, where Hollande and the German foreign minister were watching a football game.
The mass bloodshed came as France, a founder member of the US-led coalition waging air strikes against Islamic State in Syria and Iraq, was on high alert for terrorist attacks, raising questions about how such a complex operation, which prosecutors said involved three separate teams, could go undetected. It was the worst such attack in Europe since the Madrid train bombings of 2004, in which 191 died.
http://news.rthk.hk/rthk/en/component/k2/1223663-20151115.htm
