World

Hollande: Paris attacks an act of 'war'

November 14, 2015 5:00 pm

Islamic State has claimed responsibility for a coordinated assault by gunmen and bombers that killed 127 people at locations across Paris, which President Francois Hollande said amounted to an act of war against France.

Hospital officials now put the number of injured at 300, with 80 people in a critical condition.

The worst attack was carried out at the Bataclan concert hall, where officials say four gunmen systematically killed at least 87 people at a rock concert before anti-terrorist commandos launched an assault on the building.

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Some 40 more people were killed in five other attacks in the Paris region, the official said, including an apparent double suicide bombing outside the Stade de France national stadium, where Mr Hollande and the German foreign minister were watching a friendly soccer international.

In total eight attackers are reported to have been killed around Paris, including seven by their suicide belts.

The police believe all of the gunmen are now dead but it is not clear if any accomplices are still on the run .

It is was the worst such attack in Europe since the Madrid train bombings of 2004, in which 191 died.

The assaults 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.