Commentary from terror expert on CNN: "The terrorists have read Snowden. They know not to use their phones. We cannot predict anything now."
— Benny (@bennyjohnson) November 14, 2015
Fox News:
Police stormed a Paris concert hall late Friday night, killing two gunmen who were reportedly executing hostages, after at least 40 people were killed elsewhere in coordinated terror attacks that rocked the French capital and prompted President Francois Hollande to order the entire nation’s borders closed.
The grim drama unfolded inside the music venue known as Bataclan, as word trickled out that a trio of Kalashnikov-toting gunmen, unmasked but wearing flak jackets, were firing at horrified concert goers as French television broadcast the sound of shots being fired. Hundreds of police massed outside around midnight local time, then mounted an all-out assault on the building. Minutes later, a dozen or so shaken spectators were reportedly led out of the building, and reports said at least two gunmen had been killed.
The hostages were taken at the concert hall where the American rock band Eagles of Death Metal was scheduled to play. As the terrorist siege played out, a handful of spectators trickled out and told of the the horror taking place inside. Julien Pierce, a Europe 1 journalist who was inside the Bataclan, described what he saw to the BBC.
“Several armed men came into the concert,” he said. “Two or three men, not wearing masks, came in with what looked like Kalashnikovs and fired blindly on the crowd.
“It lasted between 10 and 15 minutes. It was extremely violent and there was panic. The attackers had enough time to reload at least three times. They were very young.”
As many as six other attacks were believed to have involved shootings and at least two suicide bombers, including one who detonated near the city’s Stade de France, soccer stadium where the French and German national teams were playing in a match attended by Hollande. The death toll was expected to climb, and more than 60 were reportedly wounded.
“There are lots of dead people,” said a witness believed to have been at the bar of a restaurant that was the scene of one attack. “It’s pretty horrific to be honest. 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.”
One man was reportedly arrested, and Twitter accounts linked to ISIS celebrated the attacks, but no terror organizations immediately claimed credit. A gunman at one of the attacks, at Petit Cambodge, a Cambodian restaurant in the city’s fashionable 10th arrondisement, was heard shouting “This is for Syria!” as he sprayed gunfire at horrified patrons, witnesses said.
In a brief address, Hollande, who was rapidly evacuated from the stadium following the first explosion, later declared the entire nation under a state of emergency and ordered all borders closed, saying “unprecedented terrorist attacks were underway.” The closures mean no one can leave or enter the nation until the order is lifted.