MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Night of gun and bombs attacks in Paris: at least 150 people killed

People were shot dead at bars and restaurants at five other sites in Paris. Eight attackers are reported to have been killed.

France has declared a national state of emergency and tightened borders after at least 150 people were killed in a night of gun and bomb attacks in Paris. Eighty people were reported killed after gunmen burst into the Bataclan concert hall and took dozens hostage. The siege ended when security forces stormed the building.

 People were shot dead at bars and restaurants at five other sites in Paris. Eight attackers are reported to have been killed.

Police believed all of the gunmen were dead but it was unclear if any accomplices were still on the run after the string of near-simultaneous attacks. Paris residents have been asked to stay indoors and about 1,500 military personnel are being deployed across the city.

The gunmen's motives were not immediately confirmed, but one witness at the Bataclan heard one of the attackers appear to express support for the militant Islamic State (IS) group.

“It's Hollande's fault, he shouldn't have intervened in Syria!” the man shouted, according to French news agency AFP, citing the French president's decision to take part in Western air strikes on IS.

Paris saw three days of attacks in early January, when Islamist gunmen murdered 18 people after attacking satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, a Jewish supermarket and a policewoman on patrol.

Attack sites:

Bataclan concert venue, 50 boulevard Voltaire, 11th district - gun and suicide bomb attacks

Stade de France, St Denis, just north of Paris - explosions near venue as France played Germany in football friendly

Le Carillon bar, 18 rue Alibert, 10th district - gun attack

Le Petit Cambodge restaurant, 20 rue Alibert, 10th district - gun attack

La Belle Equipe, 92 rue de Charonne, 11th district - gun attack

La Casa Nostra restaurant, 2 rue de la Fontaine au roi, 11th district - gun attack

The attack on the 1,500-seat Bataclan hall was by far the deadliest of Friday night's attacks. Gunmen opened fire on concert-goers watching US rock group Eagles of Death Metal. The event had been sold out.

The series of attacks not far from the Place de la Republique and the Place de la Bastille struck at the heart of the capital when cafes, bars and restaurants were at their busiest.

Customers were singled out at venues including a pizza restaurant and a Cambodian restaurant.

The other target was the Stade de France, on the northern fringe of Paris, where President Hollande and 80,000 other spectators were watching a friendly international between France and Germany, with a TV audience of millions more.

The president was whisked to safety after the first of at least two explosions just outside the venue to convene an emergency cabinet meeting. Three attackers were reportedly killed there.

People evacuated the stadium singing the national anthem La Marseillaise.

As the extent of the bloodshed became clear, Mr Hollande went on national TV to announce a state of emergency for the first time in France since 2005. The decree enables the authorities to close public places and impose curfews and restrictions on the movement of traffic and people.

Within an hour, security forces had stormed the concert hall and all four attackers there were dead. Three had blown themselves up and a fourth was shot dead by police.

Another attacker was killed in a street in eastern Paris, reports said.

Speaking after arriving at the concert hall, President Hollande said the attackers would be fought “without mercy”.

US President Barack Obama spoke of “an outrageous attempt to terrorize innocent civilians”, and of an attack on “humanity”.

UK PM David Cameron said he was shocked and pledged to do “whatever we can to help”.

Paris Mayor Ann Hidalgo announced that all schools, museums, libraries, gyms, swimming pools and markets would be shut on Saturday.

As France reeled from the terrorist attacks in Paris on Friday night, and as people around the globe took to social media to express their horror and dismay, one slice of social media in the Arab world celebrated the carnage as a historic triumph.

“Remember the 14th of November Paris,” one supporter of the Islamic State group declared on Twitter. “It will be established in their minds like 11 September to the Americans.”

Another online social media channel used by supporters of the group -- also known as ISIS or ISIL -- posted a photo of an ISIS convoy with the caption, written in French: ”Allah defends his servants Hollande,” a reference to the French president, “and the proof is that you are not powerless in the face of his power and the power of his soldiers. We will humiliate you, oh pigs of France.”

Hours after the attack began, a social media post circulated online of an alleged martyrdom testimony from an ISIS member who took part in the Paris atrocities. No organization has yet claimed responsibility for the Paris attacks.

When ISIS does make such claims for terrorist attacks, the militant group typically circulates a video, audio recording or written statement outlining the details while issuing a justification for its execution. As in the rest of the world, the majority of the Arab conversation featured condemnation of the attacks and sympathy for those who lost their lives. On Lebanese social media, people posted condolences for the victims of the Paris attacks.