SYRIA: French Attack on Islamic State at Raqqa

French aircraft undertook a fierce bombing campaign against Islamic State positions inside Syria late Sunday, less than 48 hours after gunmen killed at least 132 people and wounded hundreds more in the worst terror attack on French soil in modern history.

The French Defense Ministry said in a statement posted on its website that the intense bombing campaign against the Islamic State’s defacto capital, Raqqa, destroyed “a command post, a jihadist recruitment centre and arms and munitions depot” as well as “a terrorist training camp.” It offered no estimate of casualties but said that its objectives had been destroyed.

The 12 French planes flew from bases in the United Arab Emirates and Jordan, and the mission was coordinated with the United States, the ministry said. The aircraft dropped 20 bombs.

French President Francois Hollande had promised Saturday that France would respond without mercy to Friday night’s terrorist attacks, which struck at six crowded nightspots in the French capital and a suburb, Saint-Denis.

The French retaliation came as French police acknowledged that they had been wrong when they’d said earlier that all the shooters responsible for Friday night’s horror were dead.

French police said at least one suspect had escaped, and they issued a Europe-wide alert for the man, Abdeslam Salah, 26, a Belgian citizen who police said had rented a Volkswagen Polo that was found parked outside the Bataclan concert hall, the scene of the bloodiest of Friday night’s attacks.

Other evidence suggests that at least one more suspect might be at large.

French officials have said the bodies of seven terrorists have been located – six who had triggered their suicide belts and one who was shot by police. Salah would make eight.

But French prosecutors have said the assailants worked in three “teams,” while witnesses at the locations of the attacks have consistently described three attackers at each, indicating nine assailants in all.

Additionally, three assault rifles were found in an abandoned car believed used in drive-by shootings that killed at least 38 people at restaurants, suggesting three shooters had been in the car. Only one of those shooters has been accounted for, a terrorist who blew himself up.

The other dead terrorists included three who blew themselves up outside the national soccer stadium and the three attackers thought responsible for killing 89 people at the Bataclan concert hall; two of those killed themselves by detonating their explosive belts and the third was shot by police.

Police did not address the issue of whether other assailants were still at large.

The rise in the official death toll – it had been 129 on Saturday – was expected, and it was likely to rise further. An estimated 352 were wounded in the attacks and more than 90 of those remain in critical condition.

France remained on high alert. President Francois Hollande canceled his appearance at the G-20 summit meeting, which began Sunday in Antalya, Turkey. The French military said that 10,000 soldiers would be assigned to patrol duties around the country.

Parisians remained on edge. Hundreds of mourners who had gather outside the Petite Cambodge and Le Carillon restaurants, where at least 19 people were killed, scattered at the sight of a suspicious car, and police drew their weapons.

Shortly after that, several thousand mourners who’d gathered at the nearby Place de la Republique to pay tribute fled, quickly left after what was described as a possible, though unconfirmed, gunshot.

For a second day, theater and museums were closed, and the police and military presence was heavy.

Meanwhile, French and U.S. officials said they had determined that the assailants had been in contact with Islamic State figures in Syria, cementing that group’s claim of responsibility. U.S. and French officials said they had agreed on joint measures to combat the Islamic State, including sharing intelligence on Islamic State targets in Syria and Iraq.

If the official narrative is accurate, the cafe attackers were either extremely proficient at navigating crowded Paris streets or extremely lucky with traffic on narrow one-lane cobbled roads.

Confusion still surrounded the official description of what took place Friday night. If the official narrative and timing of the attacks are accurate, the attackers were either extremely proficient at navigating crowded Paris streets on a Friday evening, extremely lucky with traffic on narrow one-lane cobbled roads or more numerous than has yet been reported.

This much is certain. The attackers’ plans for much greater bloodshed were thwarted when two assailants were prevented from entering the crowded Stade de France soccer stadium in the suburb of Saint-Denis where thousands of spectators and President Hollande were watching a friendly match between France and Germany.

Alert security guards stopped one of the assailants when they subjected him to a pat-down as he attempted to enter through the stadium turnstiles. Turned away, he detonated his explosive belt outside the stadium’s Gate D at 9:20 p.m., killing a single passerby.

The explosion could be heard clearly on the broadcast of the game but the crowd inside the stadium was apparently unaware of what had taken place, and the game continued for more than another 70 minutes of play to its conclusion.

During that time, two other assailants detonated their bombs outside the stadium – one at 9:30 p.m., the other at 9:53 p.m. – apparently killing only themselves.

But while the terrorist team assigned to the stadium failed to cause massive bloodshed, the other two teams were finding greater success, though the routes and timing followed by one makes it difficult to believe it was the only set of shooters involved.

At 9:25 p.m. three attackers arrived in a black Seat Leon vehicle and opened fire at two sidewalk cafes, the Carillon and the Petit Cambodge, which are located across a narrow street from one another. Fifteen people were killed.

Seven minutes later, according to witnesses, at 9:32 p.m., a black Seat Leon vehicle carrying three attackers, pulled up in front of the Casa Nostra Pizzeria and the Bonne Biere bar, which also are across the street from one another. Three men in the Seat open fire, killing five. The two cafes are only a few blocks from the Carillon and the Petit Cambodge, though going from one location to the other quickly would require detailed knowledge of the small one-lane streets in the area.

Four minutes after that, at 9:36 p.m., according to survivors, a black Seat Leon carrying three gunmen opens fire at the Le Belle Equipe restaurant, which is located a little more than a mile south of the Casa Nostra. Nineteen sidewalk café diners are shot to death.

The route between the Casa Nostra and the Belle Equipe would be crowded and difficult to navigate quickly on a Friday night.

Then, at 9:40 p.m., on the Boulevard Voltaire, a terrorist blows himself up in front of a brasserie, injuring a bystander. The next time the black Seat Leon is seen, it is found by police in the suburb of Montreuil, about a half-hour’s drive away. Three Kalashnikov rifles are found inside.

At the same time, at least three and maybe four gunmen entered the Bataclan theater and started shooting. The Bataclan is about a mile from Voltaire attack. The attackers kill many during the initial assault, but they also seized about 100 hostages and began executing them. The siege at the Bataclan lasted till after midnight, when police stormed in, and two attackers detonated their suicide belts. A third terrorist was shot to death by police, though reports now say he too detonated his belt.

The prosecutor believes the six café attacks all involved the same group of attackers. One attacker obviously survived to drive the car back to the Paris suburbs. Witness accounts of the attacks indicate that he would not have been alone.

Paris Attacks Kill More Than 100, Police Say; Border Controls Tightened

France has declared a national state of emergency and tightened borders after at least 120 people were killed in a night of gun and bomb attacks in Paris.

Eighty people were reported killed after gunmen burst into the Bataclan concert hall and took hostages before security forces stormed the hall.

People were shot dead at restaurants and bars at five other sites in Paris. At least 180 people were injured.

These are the deadliest attacks in Europe since the 2004 Madrid bombings.

French President Francois Hollande, visibly shaken, called Friday night's almost simultaneous attacks "a horror" and vowed to wage a "merciless" fight against terrorism.

Paris saw three days of attacks in early January, when Islamist gunmen murdered 18 people after attacking satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, a Jewish supermarket and a policewoman on patrol.

The attack on the 1,500-seat Bataclan hall was by far the deadliest of Friday night's attacks. Gunmen opened fire on concert-goers watching US rock group Eagles of Death Metal. The event had been sold out.

"At first we thought it was part of the show but we quickly understood," Pierre Janaszak, a radio presenter, said

Speaking outside the Bataclan concert hall President Hollande said the attacks were "an abomination and a barbaric act"

"They didn't stop firing. There was blood everywhere, corpses everywhere. We heard screaming. Everyone was trying to flee."

He said the gunmen took 20 hostages, and he heard one of them tell their captives: "It's the fault of Hollande, it's the fault of your president, he should not have intervened in Syria".

Within an hour, security forces had stormed the concert hall and all four attackers there were dead. Three had blown themselves up and a fourth was shot dead by police.

Attack sites:

La Belle Equipe, 92 rue de Charonne, 11th district - 19 dead in gun attacks

Le Carillon bar and Le Petit Cambodge restaurant at rue Alibert, 10th district - 12-14 dead in gun attacks

La Casa Nostra restaurant, 92 rue de la Fontaine au Roi, 11th district - 5 dead in gun attacks

Stade de France, St Denis, just north of Paris - explosions heard outside venue, three attackers dead

Bataclan concert venue, 50 boulevard Voltaire, 11th district - stormed by several gunmen, 80 dead

The attacks took place at six sites across Paris, mainly in the centre of the city

Meanwhile, not far from the Place de la Republique and the Place de la Bastille, three busy restaurants and a bar were targeted by gunmen armed with Kalashnikovs.

Around 40 people were killed as customers were singled out at venues including a pizza restaurant and a Cambodian restaurant, Le Petit Cambodge.

"We heard the sound of guns, 30-second bursts. It was endless. We thought it was fireworks," Pierre Montfort, a resident living close to Le Petit Cambodge said.

The other target was the Stade de France, on the northern fringe of Paris, where President Hollande and 80,000 other spectators were watching a friendly international between France and Germany, with a TV audience of millions more.

The president was whisked to safety after the first of at least two explosions just outside the venue to convene an emergency cabinet meeting. Three attackers were reportedly killed there.

As the extent of the bloodshed became clear, Mr Hollande went on national TV to announce a state of emergency for the first time in France since 2005. The decree enables the authorities to close public places and impose curfews and restrictions on the movement of traffic and people.

Eyewitness Ben Grant: "There were a lot of dead people, it was horrific"

Paris residents have been asked to stay indoors and about 1,500 military personnel are being deployed across the city.

All schools, museums, libraries, gyms, swimming pools and markets will be shut on Saturday as well as Disneyland Paris. All sporting fixtures in the affected area of Paris have also been cancelled.

Police believe all of the gunmen are dead - seven killed themselves with explosives vests and one was shot dead by the security forces - but it is unclear if any accomplices are still on the run.

US President Barack Obama spoke of "an outrageous attempt to terrorise innocent civilians".

UK PM David Cameron said he was shocked and pledged to do "whatever we can to help".

The Vatican called it "an attack on peace for all humanity" and said "a decisive, supportive response" was needed "on the part of all of us as we counter the spread of homicidal hatred in all its forms".

Spectators flooded the pitch of the Stade de France after the France v Germany football match as news of the attacks spread.

It's just 10 months since Paris was the scene of multiple terrorist attacks, first the massacre of staff at the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo and then a hostage-taking at a Jewish supermarket.

What happened in Paris on Friday night is exactly what Europe's security services have long feared, and tried to foil. Simultaneous, rolling attacks, with automatic weapons and suicide bombers in the heart of a major European city, targeting multiple, crowded public locations.

The tactics have been used before, in Mumbai and elsewhere. But how they've come to Europe is one of many questions that will have to be answered.

Were the attackers French citizens? If so, how they were radicalised, armed and organised - was it in France, in Syria, and by whom? Why weren't they detected? Is France, after two major attacks this year, uniquely vulnerable or does the carnage in Paris mean all of Europe faces new threats to our public places and events? And if a Syrian link is proven, will France recoil from that conflict or will it redouble its commitment to the fight against radical groups there?