Paris attack, Bataclan and other assaults leave many dead,

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.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, told Agence France Presse.

"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. La Belle Equipe, 92 rue de Charonne, 11th district - at least 19 dead in gun attacks Le Carillon bar and Le Petit Cambodge restaurant at rue Alibert, 10th district - at least 12 dead in gun attacks La Casa Nostra restaurant, 92 rue de la Fontaine au Roi, 11th district - at least 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, at least 80 dead 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.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?