Muslim Terror Unleashed in France? 158 Massacred in Coordinated Attacks; ISIS Claims Responsibility

By ADAM NOSSITER and RICK GLADSTONENOV. The Paris area reeled Friday night from a shooting rampage, explosions and mass hostage-taking that President François Hollande called an unprecedented terrorist attack on France. He closed the borders and mobilized the military in a national emergency.

French television and news services quoted the police as saying around 100 people had been killed at a concert venue where hostages had been taken, and dozens more killed in apparently coordinated attacks outside the country’s main sports stadium and at least five other popular locations in the city.

Witnesses on French television said the scene at the concert was a massacre. Ambulances were seen racing back and forth in the area into the early hours of Saturday morning.

The casualties eclipsed the deaths and mayhem that roiled Paris in the Charlie Hebdo massacre and related assaults around the French capital by Islamic militant extremists less than a year ago. (Read more on the probable Muslim terror in France HERE)

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Scores Dead in Paris Due to Coordinated Attacks

By Steve Almasy and Jim Bittermann. Scores of people are reported dead after what are being called terror attacks across Paris. Police early Saturday freed hostages at a concert hall where more than 100 people may have died. The attacks seemed to be planned to hit areas where many people would be gathered on a Friday night, officials said. CNN will update this story as information comes in:

• As many as 118 people were killed in the attacks in Paris, Deputy Mayor Patrick Klugman said Saturday.

• CNN affiliate BFMTV reports that SWAT units stormed the Bataclan concert hall and that the siege is over. Two attackers were killed, a police union said. Police have brought out at least 100 hostages from the concert hall, a CNN producer said; some appear to be wounded. President Francois Hollande was on his way to the concert venue, according to French news agency AFP. The interior ministry said at least 112 people died at Bataclan. (Read more from this story on the probable Muslim terror in France HERE)

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Attack Claims He’s From ISIS But Obama Doesn’t Want to Speculate

By Aaron Goldstein. A majority of the deaths have taken place inside the Bataclan Concert Hall where the band The Eagles of Death Metal were playing. The two others major attacks took place outside Stade de France during a soccer match between France and Germany (which was attended by French President Francois Hollande) and outside a Cambodian restaurant called Le Petit Cambodge. The gunmen from the latter attack are still at large at this hour.

Witnesses says that two shooters were responsible for the Bataclan attacks. They chanted “Allahu Akbar!!!” and “This is for Syria!!!” before eventually being killed by French authorities. Evidently many of the concertgoers were being held hostage before they mowed down by bullets or had grenades thrown at them. One person arrested by Paris police has said that he is from Syria and that this is an ISIS operation.

Despite this information, President Obama says, “I don’t want to speculate at this poin terms of who is responsible for this.” (Read more from this story on the probable Muslim terror in France HERE)