Mass shootings in Paris: at least 40 dead, 60 held hostage

November 13, 2015 • 4:07 pm

This has just happened in Paris: mass shootings and explosions in cafes, reportedly with Kalashnikovs, an explosion in or beside a soccer stadium, possible suicide attacks, and reports of about 60 people held hostage inside a nightclub. The Telegraph report updates every 90 seconds. A quick summary from the Torygraph:

The Telegraph’s David Chazan has this summary of what we know:

QuoteAt least 18 people were killed and “many wounded” in a series of attacks in Paris by gunmen armed with kalashnikovs and grenades on Friday evening, police said.

Grenades were reportedly thrown at a stadium in the north of the French capital where a football match between France.

The first shooting to be reported took place at a Cambodian restaurant in the 10th arrondissement of the city, an area with many crowded bars and restaurants, particularly busy on Friday evening.

A second shooting was reported minutes later near a nightclub in the area, Le Bataclan, where gunmen were said to be holding hostages. Later grenades were said to have been thrown at a stadium in the north of the city where a football match between France and Germany was being held.

Large numbers of police rushed to the scene of the first attack, a Cambodian restaurant in the 10th arrondissement of the French capital. They evacuated nearby bars and restaurants.

The motive of the shootings is unknown, but Parisians feared that terrorists had again attacked the French capital, where 17 people were killed in a series of attacks in January that began with the shootings of staff at the office of the Charlie Hebdo magazine. Sirens were heard throughout central Paris.

I always wait before drawing conclusions, but it’s near the Charlie Hebdo offices, Islamic terrorists use Kalashnikovs, and there’s this report from 6 minutes ago:

22:00

‘Gunmen shouted Allah Akbar’

Louis, inside the Bataclan, told France Info radio the men opened fire and shouted “Allah Akbar”.

He only saw silhouettes. He said:

QuoteThe men came in and started shooting. Everyone fell to the ground. It was hell.

I took my mum, and we hid. Someone near us said they have gone, so we ran out. I was only thinking of escaping.

We’re out now. I think people are still inside.

It’s a nightmare – a nightmare.

98 thoughts on “Mass shootings in Paris: at least 40 dead, 60 held hostage”

  1. If this is an Islamist attack, someone, somewhere will blame it on the taking out of Mohammad Emwazi.

    Such rotten news. x

    1. Terrible news indeed.

      And I’ve already heard people saying “these aren’t true muslims, because true muslims are peaceful”.

      We don’t even fully know what’s happened yet, nor who is responsible, and yet the pre-emptive excuse-making has already begun.

      1. And The Guardian has already published the first column with a ‘we must not blame Islam/Muslims’ theme.

          1. The article can be found here:

            http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/nov/14/paris-attacks-leave-france-in-trauma-fearing-for-the-future

            Re-reading it, the “don’t blame Muslims” element seems to have been toned down. I may have mis-read it the first time, but I’ve got a sneaking suspicion that the article has been edited since being published (particularly as many of the comments criticise the ‘blaming the victim/excusing Islam’ theme.

            They’ve still gone with “Muslims will increasingly fear being associated with terror; far-right groups may well fuel more hatred” as a subheading though.

          2. If “moderate” Muslims want to avoid being identified with terrorists it’s way past time for them to start denouncing and working actively against the jihadists in their community.

          3. No such thing as a Moderate Muslim if they read and follows the ramblings of their 7th Century Peadophile Prophet

          4. You could of course say exactly the same thing about Christians.

            Fortunately most Xtians and most Muslims don’t follow everything in their holy book.

            cr

  2. Clearly it was put up job and the perps were Capuchin Nuns on a toot.

    It is incredibly important to give the devout and peace loving Muslims the benefit of the doubt

  3. I just turned on the computer and then saw your report and turned on CNN. Looks like a hostage situation on-going now in Paris. Very little info at this time.

  4. Trying to access the Telegraph story, your reference’s existence was denied. Haven’t heard anything on NPR. Suspect a false report.

    4. Been seeing it on Twitter too.
      That’s going to make my trip through CDG next week a total pain. Bugger.

      1. I travelled through France last night on the Eurostar from Brussels and my first thought on reading about this was “thank d*g I got through before this happened”. My second thought was one of shame at my selfishness because my near inconvenience is as nothing compared to the pain of hundreds of people who have now lost their loved ones.

        I think you should probably have thought a second or two longer about your post before hitting the button.

        1. Yeah, well. the prospect of being re-routed through Addis Ababa (Ethiopia) does have concerns for me too, and it re-surfaces every time there’s a threatened AF crew strike. That’s every couple of weeks. They don’t like apostates in Ethiopia. Well, not live ones.

    1. same info that I see on CNN. They showed an explosion that happened earlier at a football game. I guess the hostage thing is at the concert hall where there was an American band playing. It is nearly midnight now in Paris.

  7. Claimed death and hostage counts rising, now titles claim 40 dead and about 100 hostages. The number of terrorists holds steady at 6.

      1. Holy shit, Diana. They’re killing them one-by-one in the Bataclan, according to an fb report from some chap cowering inside. x

        1. Yes Deutsche Welle reported same. Also speculation that the police are storming the venue.

      2. Terrorism. It is the application of planning and intelligence to the purpose of inflicting terror on other people.
        That death is almost certainly going to be the outcome for the terrorists doesn’t matter. Their aims are already being achieved.

  9. Here is excerpt from how the New York Times is reporting it at the moment:

    “French news media reported that Kalashnikov rifles had been involved in the shootings — a favored weapon of militants who have attacked targets in France — and that many rounds had been fired.”

    It will be interesting to see at what point the Times will use the words “Islam” or “Islamic” or “Muslim” in its reporting.

    1. It’s not yet been verified that the attackers are Muslims. No matter how obvious the source of the attacks may seem to you, it’s proper journalistic practice not to print unverified claims.

  11. I don’t see what grievance could possibly justify randomly killing a bunch of French civilians in cafes. It’s horrible.

    Their motive remains unknown but my guess as is that it’s a reaction to either the perceived government mistreatment of the Muslim minority in France or to some criticism of their religion. But even if the claimed government mistreatment of the Muslim minority in France rose to a level that justified a violent response, which it hasn’t, it’s nonsense to direct the violence against random civilians. And of course criticism of their religion doesn’t justify killing people.

    I’m sure this will further fuel anti-Muslim sentiment in France, so it’s bound to be counterproductive on both counts, if they want people to treat and respect them better. But perhaps they want to be feared.

    As bad as it is, 18 dead is still tiny compared to the annual violent death count in France, so hopefully the French government won’t use this attack as an opportunity to restrict the liberties of the whole country, which would be an attack on everyone.

    1. Almost any religion can justify killing. What’s random to us, can be a clear picture to a fanatic.

      1. “Almost any religion can justify killing”

        Yes, that’s why the world is plagued by mass-murdering Jains, Methodists and Scientologists.

        Let me spell it out to you guys: Muslim extremists hate every single member of the human race who isn’t a muslim extremist like themselves. There really isn’t any more motive involved than that.

        And if this latest unfolding atrocity does increase anti-muslim sentiment in France, and more widely in Europe, then I say good, let it happen. Until muslim communities take active steps to purge themselves of this jihadist poison they will quite justifiably be regarded with suspicion and hostility by those of us who have the misfortune to live in close proximity to them. Right now, after yet another atrocity, I am absolutely sick to the back teeth of the pestilential cult of Islam and I wish everyone who follows it would buy themselves a one-way ticket to Syria or any other fly-blown Middle Eastern sandpit of their choice. I have just had enough of this sh*t.

        Rant over.

        1. Time scales appear to be at odds. ~300 years ago, the enlightenment and scientific understanding have pushed the majority of the world away from the barbarity of religious authority. Islam is 600 years behind. Unfortunately we do not have 300 years to let Islam catch up. The Islam community needs to take active steps today, otherwise this is probably going to get worse before it gets better.

          1. Since according to the devout the koran is doG’s last, perfect word and nothing has been or can be added to it islam is actually thirteen hundred years behind and lagging further each day. And since it is all perfect there can be no reformation.

  12. “Terrorism doesn’t have a skincolour or religion” says imam on Dutch television. “This hurts muslims as well. We as a society fail.”

    There is no attempt whatsoever to look at the hatred that islamic scripture incites against infidels. It’s “society” that fails to address the grievances of terrorists. It makes me want to vomit.

    When the staff of Charlie Hebdo was murdered, almost no muslims protested against murder. In fact, I saw protests in London against Charlie Hebdo! These terrorists come from islamic families. If ‘moderate muslims’ are not willing to publicly reject islamic terrorism, they are part of the problem.

  13. French president has declared emergency and is closing the boarders into France. The situation with the hostages in the center is very bad and continues.

  14. My daughter moved to the outskirts of Paris this summer. Messaged me it was multiple attacks. She is holed up in her friends flat.

    Hate the 6 hour difference because I don’t know if she is okay and they are just offline now.

  15. I hope they have the resources nearby to get into the concert hall fast. This does not sound like a hostage situation, it sounds like they are just killing everyone they can find.

  16. “According to BFMTV, one of the gunmen shouted: ‘It’s for Syria'”

    Hmm. France is involved in the Syrian civil war, attacking both the Syrian government and also ISIS. It doesn’t justify killing French civilians, who probably don’t even want their country to be involved. I doubt the attackers were even Syrian.

    Unfortunately, terrorist attacks seem to be effective. (E.g. Charlie Hebdo stopped criticizing Islam after the attacks.) If they went and attacked the French military, they probably wouldn’t have had much success. What to do about it?

      1. So you want to murder hundreds of thousands civilians in retaliation? In what alternate universe could that possibly make the situation better?

    3. A close friend who was in the Bataclan confirms “it’s for our brothers in Syra” – shouted by bearded francophones.

      He and his wife escaped with their lives, she, grazed by a bullet, he covered in blood from a stranger dying in his arms.

  17. More than 60 people killed. Gunmen apparently murdering hostages in club. It’s horrendous. And, even if they lose the terrorists win. Security will be tighter everywhere. ISIS and similar groups also want to increase anti-Muslim feeling ( a disaster for the majority of Muslims who do not share that murderous barbarism), thereby drawing more people to the ’cause.’ On a day when we could celebrate the Peshmerga’s retaking of Sinjar and the probable death of Jihadi John, this enormity happens. It is too distressing For the second time this year, the civilized bleed along with the people of Paris.

    1. I hope the borders stay closed and I hope Italy, Greece and all the other countries around the Mediterrean Sea close the borders as well. My country, the Netherlands, is very conservative with regards to immigration. When Sweden and Germany announced that refugees were more than welcome, people were very angry.

      1. I don’t know, is there any evidence that terrorists are really “sneaking in” with genuine refugees? In the UK, at least, it seems like we have more than enough home-grown Islamic crazies. Of the 4 London Underground bombers, 3 were born in the UK, one was born in Jamaica.

        1. Why take the risk? Close the borders, limit immigration to a handful of people who have useful skills and who pose no threat to the host culture or society. In my view that would exclude virtually all muslims. If international treaties or agreements prohibit this, then tear them up. If the EU won’t allow it, then leave the EU.

          1. Around 5% of the British population are Muslim. Most are British citizens. They are an integral part of the “host culture”.

          2. Says who? I must have missed the referendum when the British people were asked whether they wanted to have their country infected by this putrid religion.

            I believe we currently have about 2.5 to 3.o million muslims in the UK. If there was some way we could exchange them for 3 million Satanists I’d consider that a good deal.

          3. Some of the Muslim refugees are themselves fleeing Islamic extremists. What about those people?

          4. “Some of the Muslim refugees are themselves fleeing Islamic extremists. What about those people?”

            Pay some suitably compliant country in North Africa or the Middle East to take them, or just deport them back to wherever they came from. I don’t give a toss as long as they’re not in Europe.

          6. Give refuge to women and children, and guns to the healthy grown men and send them back to Syria to fight Islamic extremists.

        2. Home-grown crazies are bad enough. No need to let more of those people in. The problem is islam. The koran is a terrible book and Mohammed killed unbelievers. Moderate muslims (for lack of a better word) need to say: “we don’t believe in the death penalty for apostasy and unbelievers.” They need to come out publicly and condemn those acts, because those acts are propogated by their holy book and their prophet. To this day, they have failed to do so convincingly, precisely because that would imply their holy book and their prophet are wrong. If muslims can’t admit that they might be wrong, we have no hope of improvement.

          Maajid Nawaz might be an exception, I don’t know how he thinks about these things.

          1. I don’t disagree with you that Islam is the problem. The attitudes revealed among “ordinary” British Muslims in opinion polls are deeply troubling.

            I’m just not convinced that leaving refugees to rot is a rational response that will achieve your aims.

          2. Agreed. I think some people are overreacting here. Islam must indeed undergo a reformation, but it’s absolutely barbaric to suggest a mass deportation of Muslims, or of Muslim men, because of this act.

          3. Indeed, if anyone tried to deport my Muslim friends, they’d probably have to shoot or kill me because I’d definitely obstruct that “justice”.

          4. For the record, I wasn’t suggesting we should be deporting Muslim men as they stand, but first arming them and if needed, even giving them some military training. I don’t think it’s “absolutely barbaric” to expect of the Syrian and Iraqi men to defend their land.

            Today hundreds of thousands of Syrian and Iraqi men are fleeing their countries, while the Kurdish women fighters fight tooth and nail against ISIS and retake their territory.

        3. There are reports of it, although they mostly come from right-wing sources that probably exaggerate the threat. For instance, a suspected ISIS recruiter was arrested in Germany after pretending to be a refugee. BuzzFeed also reports that about 4,000 ISIS gunmen have so far entered European countries under the guise of being refugees.

          2. To be clear, BuzzFeed thinks the number might be exaggerated but also say that members of security- and intelligence-related groups in Congress have confirmed that it seems to be occurring to some degree.

            I’m not saying this is a reason to close the borders, but accepting the refugees probably is a real risk.

      2. “I hope the borders stay closed”

        I damn well hope they don’t.

        One of the nicest things about visiting France/Italy/Switzerland a year or two ago was the absence of the bureaucratic nonsense on arrival at CDG, and the closed and empty customs posts at the borders.

        This in striking contrast to the paranoid doings of security in the US, or the bureaucratic excesses of Customs & Immigration here (NZ).

        Every bureaucratic and ultimately ineffectual border control would be a minor victory for the ISIS scum, just as the TSA is a triumph for Al Qaeda.

        cr

  20. Islam has no more demonstrated itself as a religion of peace as has Scientology demonstrated itself to be a religion of charity.

    But the religion of Islam is now far more destructive…especially to those that don’t adhere to it.

  21. BBC midnight radio news : at least 35 dead ; bar, restaurant and concert hall affected with numerous hostages in the concert hall. 5 explosions heard. Police storming at this time.
    Two further explosions at Stade de France football game, ascribed to suicide bombers.

  22. Well, if the reports of people being herded into the concert hall are true, that’s finished people’s cooperation with kidnappers, in the same way that Flight 93 severely reduced the effectiveness of hijacking. The unwritten compact between kidnapper and kidnappee is broken and everyone is going to assume that death will be the only predictable outcome of a kidnapping, so there is no benefit to cooperation in the hope of survival.
    Frankly, since September 11th 2001, and particularly since the rise of ISIS/ ISIL/ Daesh, this development has been pretty much inevitable.

    1. Two gunmen. Hundreds of hostages. Maybe the gun nuts in the US are right. We are all going to have to pack unless we are able to get these bastards under control.

      1. Is the limiting factor the number of Jihadists who are willing to die for their cause, or the availability of suitable weapons?

        1. A good question. In the US the limiting factor is probably the number of jihadists (I hope). In France, it is probably the availability of weapons.

          1. Yes, that would be my guess too. There are some countries in Europe (Switzerland I think?) where there are a lot of privately held weapons. But I think it’s difficult anywhere in Western Europe to get hold of assault weapons or explosives.

            If borders become more restricted across the Schengen countries, it may be more focused on restricting the smuggling of weapons than the mobility of some ill-defined target population.

          2. Ralph, Switzerland has higher per capita gun ownership than the U.S. But the state has the bullets! Clever, no? x

      2. An armed hostage could help, but bravery would also work. That many hostages could easily overwhelm two gunmen, even if their Kalashnikovs were automatic. But the people in front would probably die, so I imagine nobody wants to go first…

    2. Carnage… about 100 hostages murdered. I’m totally sickened by this. One of the attacker, according to CNN, was recruited by ISIL along with 3 others coming from Syria.

    3. Very thing sounds better in French: “….ont été tué” sounds so lovely if you don’t know the meaning.

  24. Disheartened. I’m not sure if I’m more afraid of the terrorists or what our eventual response will be.

  25. The death toll seems to stabilize at around 100 from the concert hall out of 1500 attacked,* 40 elsewhere, claimed source Paris officials.

    *) It could have been much worse! Compare Breivik’s terrorism with the smaller fraction here. Seems several trapped people made the right call for a police action – thanks to modern phones – which followed promptly.

    2. It could have been much worse?!? Well, yes, but it could have been much better, as in Muslim terrorists don’t have the opportunity to murder innocent people in the name of their blighted religion.

      As much as I loathe USAian gun culture, and as much as it pains me to write this, I think a few concealed carry weapon holders could have taken out the terrorists at the Bataclan. Apparently the gunmen reloaded their AK-47s several times. In a chaotic venue with hundreds of concert-goers, no way could three or four terrorists monitor the entire crowd sufficiently to prevent someone from returning fire.

        1. … even supposing someone with a small pocket handgun felt like going up against several trained attackers with AK47s at all…

      2. Dont dare point out the obvious failures of ‘gun free’ zones and benefits of an armed and trained citizenry. The liberals will eat you alive for this thought crime.

  26. I think it is too early to draw any precise conclusions. So far, it seems everyone is using the event to forward their own goals. For instance, I just heard some government minister on TV talking about an attack on French identity, a big subject with the political right here.

    Statistics are confusing. And in the mess at the Bataclan, we must be wary of what people think they heard, as people often hear what they are ready to hear.

    The bomb in the stadium went off shortly after President Hollande left, so maybe he was one target. We might remember that France is involved in Syria now, still a fairly small club but growing.

    France has a huge and largely unrecognized problem with Muslim minorities, as you know. Something like this was probably inevitable. And — sorry for the euphemism — it will probably get worse before it gets better.

    So let’s wait and see what happens.

  28. I’ve been “endearing myself” to progressives on twi**er today. Been muted by the creme de la creme of islamophobia apologists.
    I’m as over as someone can get of giving islam a pass for these horrendous acts of violence. I’m suggesting that the reformation “effort” by western islam needs to move from apologia to action without any further delay. It’s not a well received idea.
    Examples:

    Dear muslims: We’ve been waiting since the 7th century for reform from religious violence. I’m sensing a little reluctance on your part. #2015

    You can be a muslim and work to reform islam and end the violence. Enough of the apology tour. Do something that matters.

  29. Everything you are seeing is a direct result of the abysmal immigration policies of leftist parties that control European parliaments and the EU.

    Theyve imported millions of people who neither care nor understand the local culture, who spit on democracy and liberal values, who are passive supporters and enablers of these monsters and who take the word of Allah and their holy book above all else, especially above the infidel european constitutions and laws.

    Europe is reaping what their leftist leaders have sown for 2 and half decades. Two of the terrorists btw, were registered as ‘refugees’ and passed into France via Greece.I hope Angela Merkel and the rest of the gutless ‘multiculturalist’ weasels who call themselves leaders get some sleep, this blood is on their hands.

    This is the most important battle of our generation and our civilization. But what do we see on social media immediately after this latest Islamic atrocity? Peace signs with an Eiffel tower. Fucking peace signs..This is what defeated morons do when they run out of ideas or imaginary grievances to shift the blame on, and when faced with a relentless fascist enemy. They draw peace signs.. Europe is lost.

    1. Well, we should expect a lot of focus on the administration of the refugees, due to these terrorists entering Greece on October 3rd.

      Some clever bugger has just tweeted Richard Dawkins with the idea of asking all refugees to draw a picture of Muhammad. x

  30. Well I suppose someone could go and burn down a mosque, preferably with the congregation inside. Would that help?

    cr

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