Paris attacks: 43 killed, fire officials say; police trying to free hostages
By Steve Almasy and Jim Bittermann, CNN
Updated 7:01 PM ET, Fri November 13, 201
Paris (CNN)Dozens of people are reported dead after a series of what appear to be coordinated attacks across Paris late Friday. Police were moving in to free any hostages still held at a concert hall. CNN will update this story as information comes in:
[Latest developments, posted at 7 p.m. ET]
• Several groups of police have burst into the Bataclan concert venue and a series of denotations have been heard from outside, a CNN producer said. Gunfire has been heard. Police have brought out at least 100 hostages; some appear to be wounded.
• At least 43 people are confirmed dead in multiple attacks across Paris, firefighters said early Saturday. CNN affiliate BFMTV reported earlier as many as 60 people had been killed.
• President Francois Hollande called the events "unprecedented terrorist attacks" and added, "This is a horror." In a series of tweets, he said, "Faced with terror, this is a nation that knows how to defend itself, how to mobilize its forces and once again, knows how to overcome the terrorists."
• French radio reporter Julien Pearce was inside the Bataclan theater when gunmen entered. Two men dressed in black started shooting what he described as AK-47s, and after wounded people fell to the floor, the two gunmen shot them again, execution-style, he said. The two men didn't wear masks and didn't say anything. The gunfire lasted 10 to 15 minutes, sending the crowd inside the small concert hall into a screaming panic, said Pearce, who escaped. He said he saw 20 to 25 bodies lying on the floor.
• One of the explosions at the Stade de France outside Paris appears to be a suicide bombing, a Western intelligence source receiving direct intelligence from the scene told CNN's Deb Feyerick. A dismembered body, consistent with the aftermath of an explosion from that type of device, was found at the scene, the source said.
• People are inviting people off the streets into their apartments, reports Philip Crowther, Washington correspondent for France 24. They are following Hollande's direction to stay indoors.
• Traffic on several subway lines has been interrupted following the attacks, the Paris police prefecture reported.
• At this hour, there is no credible or specific threat in the United States, according to a U.S. government official.
• Hollande, in an address to the nation, said he had declared a state of emergency, meaning borders will be closed. "We have to show compassion and solidarity and we also have to show unity and keep our cool. France must be strong and great," he said.
• The Paris prefecture of police is instructing residents to stay home. The prefecture said via Twitter that people should stay inside "unless there's an absolute necessity."
• French authorities have launched a terrorism investigation, Eric Pelletier, a reporter with Le Pariesien, tells CNN Paul Cruickshank. There has been no official claim of responsibility, though ISIS has applauded the attacks on Twitter, Cruickshank reports.
• "This is an attack not just on Paris, not just on the people on France, but an attack on all humanity and the universal values we share," U.S. President Barack Obama said at the White House. He called the attacks an "outrageous attempt to terrorize innocent civilians."
• At least 60 people have died in the attacks, CNN affiliate BFMTV reported.
• At least six shootings took place in Paris and three explosions took place at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis late Friday, CNN affiliate BFMTV said. Two or three gunmen entered the Bataclan concert hall while opening fire on law enforcement, BFMTV reported. A source earlier told CNN there were six to eight hostage takers, citing a person they were talking to inside the venue.
• Paris police tell CNN there were three attacks. Attackers reportedly used AK-47 automatic weapons.
• Hollande, Prime Minister Manuel Valls and Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve are holding a crisis meeting at the Interior Ministry to address the attacks in Paris and the explosions in Saint-Denis, according to BFMTV.
• Counterterrorism officials around the United States have convened secure conference calls to try to gather information and to assess whether there is any indication of threats in the U.S, according to two U.S. counterterrorism officials. Immediate suspicion for the events in Paris falls to so-called returnees -- people who have traveled to Syria and Iraq and have returned, the officials said.
In early January of this year, two gunmen attacked the Paris offices of the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, killing 12 and wounding 11.
Said and Cherif Kouachi wanted to punish the magazine for the publication of cartoons that they believed mocked the Prophet Mohammed. The Kouachi brothers two days later were shot and killed in a standoff with police in Dammartin-en-Goele.
Amedy Coulibaly, an associate of Said and Cherif Kouachi, attacked a Jewish grocery store in Paris, taking more than a dozen people hostage and killing four. Coulibaly had killed a policewoman the day before, on January 8. Coulibaly was killed when police stormed the kosher market.