Paris terrorist attacks leave more than 140 dead, and France reeling

(washingtonpost.com) PARIS — France declared a state of emergency and secured its borders Friday night after attackers unleashed a coordinated wave of explosions, gunfire and hostage-taking in Paris that left over 140 people dead and generated scenes of horror and carnage.

Taken together, the assaults represented the deadliest day of attacks in France since World War II and one of the worst terrorist strikes on Western soil since Sept. 11, 2001. At sites across Paris — a soccer stadium, restaurants, a concert hall — the attackers carried out suicide bombings, hurled grenades and shot hostages dead in a frenzy of violence that paralyzed the city. Late into the night and early Saturday morning, heavily armed security forces flooded the streets while panicked residents and tourists sought safety indoors.

Friday was the second time this year that the City of Light has been a scene of mass murder; in January, Islamist gunmen attacked the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo and a kosher supermarket, leaving a total of 17 dead. The latest violence will only heighten the tension on a continent that is already on edge from the accumulated strain of a historic migration crisis, growing Islamist extremism and increasingly polarized politics.

World leaders rushed to condemn the attacks, and French President François Hollande vowed revenge, though there was no immediate claim of responsibility.

“We are going to lead a war which will be pitiless,” Hollande said outside the Bataclan concert hall, scene of the most bloodshed. “Because when terrorists are capable of committing such atrocities, they must be certain that they are facing a determined France, a united France, a France that is together and does not let itself be moved, even if today we express infinite sorrow.”

The attacks were quickly celebrated online by backers of the Islamic State and other extremist groups. The scale and sophistication of the attacks will be likely to prompt questions about how the planning for such an operation evaded the scrutiny of French intelligence services. (FULL TEXT)