Paris (dpa) – Dozens of people have been killed and hostages have been taken at a concert hall in the French capital Paris, local media reported early Saturday, in what President Francois Hollande described as acts carried out by “terrorists.”
The series of attacks targeted seven different locations, a police source told the news agency AFP.
The French leader said that he had declared a state of emergency across all of France. The country’s borders would be closed to prevent the perpetrators from leaving or other security risks from entering, Hollande said.
Hollande said that a police assault was underway, and AFP reported it was at the site of the hostage siege, Club Bataclan.
Paris residents have been instructed to not leave their homes unless absolutely necessary, while parts of the public transport network in the city has been shut down, several media outlets reported.
The broadcaster BFMTV reported that at least 60 people had been killed, while the AFP news agency spoke of 39 dead and approximately 50 people seriously injured.
The French Interior Ministry spoke of an “extremely heavy toll,” according to the France Info broadcaster.
Gunmen opened fire in a bar before moving on to a Paris concert hall, the newspaper Liberation said on its website. An unknown number of hostages were taken in the concert hall, the news agency AFP reported, citing police.
Several explosions were also reported near the Stade de France football stadium, where the French and German national teams had been playing in a friendly match.
At least one of the explosions was carried out by a suicide bomber, AFP quoted police sources as saying.
Hollande was at the game as word of the attacks arrived.
“We are all appalled and shocked,” Germany’s football coach, Joachim Loew, told the broadcaster ARD.
Team general manager Oliver Bierhoff spoke of “big uncertainty, big fear and big shock.”
Helicopters had circled the sold-out football stadium. Police initially sent people leaving the arena back inside, but later allowed spectators to get out.
A special meeting of the French government was due to be held from midnight (2300 GMT).
German Chancellor Angela Merkel declared herself “deeply distressed by the news and images that are reaching us from Paris.”
“I am shocked by events in Paris tonight. Our thoughts and prayers are with the French people,” British Prime Minister David Cameron wrote on Twitter. “We will do whatever we can to help.”
From the White House, US President Barack Obama said the attacks were an “outrageous act of terrorism” against innocent civilians.
“This is an attack not just on Paris, not just on the people of France,” Obama said. “This is an attack on humanity and the universal values we all share.”
The events come 10 months after 17 people were killed in the French capital during terrorist attacks that targeted among others the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo.
“This is a terrible ordeal,” Hollande said. “In the face of terror, France has to be strong.”
