– Paris in mourning –
Paris began three days of mourning as residents struggled to come to terms with the latest shock, 10 months after jihadists hit satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo and a Jewish supermarket.
Traditional open-air markets were cancelled under stringent security procedures and many people stayed at home.
Outside the Bataclan venue where 89 people were killed in the worst of the violence, 38-year-old Herve came to pay his respects with his six-year-old son.
“We need to get out, you shouldn’t stay at home,” he told AFP. “You need to go out and look, get a feel for yourself of what happened.”
The Islamic State group said they carried out the attacks that left a trail of destruction at the sold-out Bataclan venue, restaurants and bars, and outside the Stade de France national stadium.
The group said they were acting in revenge for French air strikes in Syria and threatened further violence in France “as long as it continues its Crusader campaign”.
President Francois Hollande has called the assault an “act of war” and vowed to hit back “without mercy”.
Unlike those in January against Charlie Hebdo, none of the assailants had ever been jailed for terror offences.
Forensic teams were still scouring the Bataclan venue, where three attackers burst in shouting “Allahu akbar” (God is greatest) and sprayed gunfire during a gig by Californian band Eagles of Death Metal.
They are believed to have executed hostages one by one after rounding them up near the stage. Videos have shown terrified people scrambling out of a door and hanging out of windows to escape the violence.
As armed police stormed the venue, two gunmen blew themselves up, while the third was shot by police.
A former French intelligence chief, speaking on condition of anonymity to AFP, said it was likely the sophisticated suicide belts were manufactured in Europe and that the person who made them was likely still in Europe.
World leaders united Sunday to denounce terrorism at a heavily-guarded G20 summit in Turkey and observed a minute’s silence in respect of those who were killed.
“We stand in solidarity with France in hunting down the perpetrators of this crime and bringing them to justice,” US President Barack Obama said after talks with his host, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Russia’s Vladimir Putin said overcoming global terror was possible only “if all the international community unites its efforts”.
London’s Tower Bridge, Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate and the World Trade Center in New York were among the many landmarks lit up in the red, white and blue of the French national flag in a show of solidarity.
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