ISIS Claim Responsibility for Terror Attacks in Paris
The Islamic State (ISIS) have claimed responsibility for the multiple attacks on Paris Friday that killed 127 people, including 118 at an Eagles of Death Metal concert. The terror group took credit for the attacks in an online statement, French President Francois Hollande told citizens Saturday.
“Eight brothers carrying explosive belts and guns targeted areas in the heart of the French capital that were specifically chosen in advance: the Stade de France during a match against Germany which that imbecile Francois Hollande was attending; the Bataclan where hundreds of idolaters were together in a party of perversity as well as other targets in the 10th, 11th and 18th arrondissement,” the group said, according to Metro. “France and those who follow its path must know that they remain the principle targets of the Islamic State. This attack is just the start of a storm and a warning for those who wish to draw lessons.”
“It is an act of war that was committed by a terrorist army, a jihadist army, Daesh, against France,” Hollande said, using an Arabic acronym for the militants commonly referred to as ISIS. “It is an act of war that was prepared, organized and planned from abroad, with complicity from the inside, which the investigation will help establish.”
Hollande also announced France would hold three days of national mourning, during which time troops would continue to patrol the capital. France will remain in a state of emergency, the New York Times reports. “France, because it was foully, disgracefully and violently attacked, will be unforgiving with the barbarians from Daesh,” Hollande said, adding that they would work “all the necessary means, and on all terrains, inside and outside, in coordination with our allies, who are, themselves, targeted by this terrorist threat.”
In ISIS’ statement, the terror group called the attacks the “first of the storm” and referred to Paris as a “capital of prostitution and obscenity.” The statement was delivered via the same channel ISIS used to take responsibility for the crash of a Russian jet that killed 224 people two weeks ago. “Eight brothers, wrapped in explosive belts and armed with machine rifles, targeted sites that were accurately chosen in the heart of the capital of France,” ISIS said.
The bodies of eight attackers have been found in the aftermath of the tragedy, seven of them killed by suicide bombing. As CNN and French media report, a Syrian passport was discovered next to the body of one of the attackers outside the Stade de France. The massacre was the deadliest day in Paris since World War II.
Eagles of Death Metal were reportedly onstage at the Bataclan venue when the attackers burst into the venue and opened fire on the audience. “We are still currently trying to determine the safety and whereabouts of all our band and crew,” the group wrote in a statement on Facebook. “Our thoughts are with all of the people involved in this tragic situation.” Contrary to rumors circulating about an Eagles of Death Metal band member’s death, a rep for the group told Rolling Stone that they suffered no fatalities.