Reports from the Bataclan Theatre in Paris suggest that one of the attackers has said, “I am from ISIS.” IS on Twitter is saying that this is France’s September 11th. It is unclear, and will be for some time, whether this is truly the work of Daesh, or simply a convenient claim from them.

Regardless of who is responsible, emergency responders and government officials are actively scrambling to control the damage on the ground. The Agence France-Presse is reporting approximately 100 dead from the attack on the theater alone. A total of seven attacks have rocked Paris tonight at the Bataclan, Republic, Les Halles, Paris 10, Paris 11, Stade de France, and Belleville.

https://youtu.be/gIEKSTitT8I

A video capturing the sound of bomb blasts from inside the stadium. This continues for a moment, while cheers from the crowd begin to sound less like excitement and more like concern.

French President François Hollande has cancelled his trip to the G20 meeting in Turkey and has a 09:00 defense council scheduled at the presidential palace to discuss action and options following this attack. Immediate reactions have been to declare a state of national emergency, mobilize the military, and close the Paris metro system and the Paris Orly Airport. Only outbound travel has been restricted, and the first city-wide curfew since 1944 has been enacted. The French Interior Ministry reports that 1,500 soldiers are being deployed to Paris, according to France 24.

paris-map
A general idea of where things happened. Image courtesy of of the New York Times and Google.

The refugee camp in Calais, nicknamed ‘Jungle’, has supposedly been set ablaze. As of this writing, no less than seven incidences of explosions and gunfire have exploded in Paris. This includes two suicide bombers, a shootout in a Paris restaurant and in Petit Cambodge in the 10th Arrondisement (Paris administrative district), an explosion in a bar near a Paris stadium where France and Germany were engaged in a soccer match, and a hostage situation at the concert hall where the American rock band Eagles of Death Metal was playing.

A France 24 LiveStream is being provided in English for up-to-the-moment updates from France.

(Featured image courtesy of AP Photo/Thibault Camus)