Series of Terrorist Attacks claim more than 120 lives in Paris
December 9, 2015
As the world tries to uncover what really happened in Paris on Nov. 13, immeasurable moral and ethical questions still remain.
130 victims and seven perpetrators were declared dead. 368 additional persons were injured, 80-99 of those critically.
Three teams were involved, launching six attacks: three suicide bombings in one attack, a fourth suicide bombing in another attack and four separate shootings. Shootings were reported in the vicinity of the rue Alibert, the rue de la Fontaine-au-Roi, the rue de Charonne, the Bataclan theatre and the avenue de la République. Three explosions occurred near the Stade de France with another on boulevard Voltaire; two of the Bataclan attackers also detonated their suicide vests as police ended the stand-off.
The shootings began at 9:25 p.m. on the rue Bichat and the rue Alibert, near the Canal-Saint Martin. Attackers shot at people outside the Le Caillon café, proceeding to shoot people inside the Le Petit Cambodge restaurant. Shortly after at 9:32 p.m., a man with a Kalashnikov rifle fired shots outside Café Bonne Bière, killing five and injuring eight. Two gunmen fired shots for several minutes at the outdoor terrace of the restaurant La Belle Équipe at 9:36 p.m., driving away with a Belgian license plate. Near the place de la Nation at 9:40 p.m., a man sat down at the Comptoir Voltaire café and ordered a drink before detonating his suicide vest, killing himself and injuring 15 bystanders.
Three explosions occurred near the country’s national sports stadium, the Stade de France, in the suburb of Saint-Denis, resulting in four deaths, including the three suicide bombers at 9:20 p.m., 9:30 p.m. and 9:53 p.m. The first bomber took his life 20 minutes after a soccer game between France and Germany commenced, a game French President François Hollande and German foreign minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier were attending. Mr. Hollande was evacuated from the stadium while Mr. Steinmeier remained at the stadium. The first bomber was prevented from entering the stadium after a security guard discovered his suicide vest. Shortly after being turned away, he detonated the bomb, killing himself and a bystander. Investigators later surmised that the first suicide bomber planned to detonate his vest within the stadium, triggering the crowd’s panicked exit into the streets where two other bombers were lying in wait. Ten minutes after the first bombing, the second bomber blew himself up near the stadium. Another 23 minutes after that, the third bomber’s vest detonated nearby at an indiscernible location.
The next attack happened about an hour into a concert, when dark-clad men with AK-47 assault rifles opened fire from a mezzanine balcony onto the crowd. The attack lasted 20 minutes, Survivors escaped via the emergency exit into the street or made their way onto the roof, with some taking refuge in toilets and offices or playing dead. The band playing escaped without injury.
By 10:00 p.m., attackers gained 100 hostages as the police began to arrive. They threatened to decapitate a hostage and throw the corpse out the window every five minutes. One witness in the Bataclan heard a gunman say, “This is because of all the harm done by Hollande to Muslims all over the world”. At 12:20 a.m. the Brigade of Research and Intervention began their assault on the attackers, lasting three minutes during which all three attackers’ vests detonated from police gunfire.
Later, in an official statement, ISIS claimed responsibility for the attacks, calling Paris a “capital of crusaders” and a capital of “prostitution and vice”. They warned of more attacks if France continues their “crusader campaign,” to which France responded by carrying out airstrikes in Raqqa, Syria.
As of press time, there is still a state of emergency in France and borders are still closed. 1,500 troops have been deployed to secure possible future target locations.
Several assailants have been identified, including Sam Amimour, who is responsible for the Bataclan massacre and Belgian-born Salah Abdeslam, the only attacker presumed to be still alive. Amimour was stopped at the French-Belgian border in the early morning of Nov. 14 after the attacks, but was allowed to pass after checking his ID. Amimour was later caught and killed in Brussels.
The airstrikes on Raqqa killed an unnamed number of ISIS fighters but no civilians, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. Twelve French aircraft, including 10 fighter jets, dropped 20 bombs on a command and control center, a jihadi recruitment center, munitions depot and ISIS training camp in Raqqa, France’s Defense Ministry said in a statement. Raqqa is the de facto capital of ISIS’ “caliphate”.
Before the attacks commenced, Iraq shared intelligence that ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi ordered an attack on any country fighting ISIS, but never specified where the attacks would take place.
Europe still remains in terror after the incident, leaving 160 dead and one perpetrator still on the run. France is still carrying out Air Strikes on Raqqa, Syria in an effort to fight the Islamic State.
The locations of the attacks, base map created by OpenStreetMap under the Creative Commons License. (1) 9:20 pm, 9:30 pm, 9:53: Stade de France in Saint-Denis. (2) 9:25 pm: Le Carillon, junction of rue Bichat and rue Alibert and Le petit Cambodge, rue Alibert. (3) 9:32 pm : Café Bonne Bière, rue du Faubourg-du-Temple and Casa Nostra, rue de la Fontaine-au-Roi. (4)9:40 pm: Le Bataclan theatre. (5) 9:36 pm: La Belle Équipe, rue de Charonne. (6) 9:46 : Comptoir Voltaire, boulevard Voltaire. Stars: Individual suicide bombings around the Stade de France and the Comptoir Voltaire restaurant. The suicide bombings at Le Bataclan are not individually distinguished.
As society tries to uncover what really happened in Paris on Nov. 13, we still leave a lot of moral and ethical questions in wraps. 130 victims and 7 perpetrators were declared dead. 368 additional persons were injured, 80-99 of those critically.
Three teams were involved, launching six attacks: three suicide bombings in one attack, a fourth suicide bombing in another attack, and four separate shootings. Shootings were reported in the vicinity of the rue Alibert, the rue de la Fontaine-au-Roi, the rue de Charonne, the Bataclan theatre, and avenue de la République. Three explosions occurred near the Stade de France, another on boulevard Voltaire, and two of the Bataclan attackers also detonated their suicide vests as police ended the stand-off.
The shootings began at 9:25 on the rue Bichat and the rue Alibert, near the Canal-Saint Martin. Attackers shot at people outside the Le Caillon café, proceeding to shoot people inside the Le Petit Cambodge restaraunt. Shortly after at 9:32 pm, a man with a Kalashnikov rifle fired shots outside Café Bonne Bière, killing five and injuring eight. Two gunmen fired shots for several minutes at the outdoor terrace of the restaurant La Belle Équipe at 9:36 pm, driving away with a Belgian License plate. Near the place de la Nation at 9:40, a man sat down at the Comptoir Voltaire café and ordered a drink before detonating his suicide vest, killing himself and injuring 15 bystanders.
Three explosions occurred near the country’s national sports stadium, the Stade de France, in the suburb of Saint-Denis, resulting in four deaths, including the three suicide bombers at 9:20 pm, 9:30 pm, and 9:53 pm. The first bomber took his life 20 minutes after a soccer game between France and Germany commenced, that French President François Hollande and German foreign minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier were attending. Mr. Hollande was evacuated from the stadium and Mr. Steinmeier remained at the stadium. The first bomber was prevented from entering the stadium after a security guard patted him down and discovered the suicide vest. Shortly after being turned away, he detonated the bomb, killing himself and a bystander. Investigators later surmised that the first suicide bomber had planned to detonate his vest within the stadium, triggering the crowd’s panicked exit onto the streets where two other bombers were lying in wait. Ten minutes after the first bombing, the second bomber blew himself up near the stadium. Another 23 minutes after that, the third bomber’s vest detonated nearby at an indiscernible location.
Around 9:40, a mass shooting and hostage-taking occurred at the Bataclan theatre, during an Eagles of Death Metal concert to an audience of 1,500. The attack happened about an hour into the concert, when dark-clad men with AK-47 assault rifles opened fire from a mezzanine balcony onto the crowd. The attack lasted 20 minutes, Survivors escaped via the emergency exit into the street or made their way onto the roof, with some taking refuge in toilets and offices or playing dead. The band escaped without injury.
By 10:00 pm, the attackers gained 100 hostages as the police started arriving. They threatened to decapitate a hostage and throw the corpse out the window every five minutes. One witness in the Bataclan heard a gunman say, “This is because of all the harm done by Hollande to Muslims all over the world.” At 12:20 pm the Brigade of Research and Intervention began their assault on the attackers, lasting three minutes and all three attacker’s vests going off due to police gunfire.
In an official statement, ISIS claimed responsibility for the attacks, calling Paris a “capital of crusaders” and a capital of “prostitution and vice.” They warn of more attacks if France continues their “crusader campaign,” in which France responded by carrying out airstrikes in Raqqa, Syria.
As of time of this article being written, there is still a state of emergency in France and borders are still closed. 1,500 troops have been deployed to secure possible future target locations.
Several assailants have been identified, including Sam Amimour, who is responsible for the Bataclan massacre and Belgian-born Salah Abdeslam, the only attacker presumed to be still alive. Amimour was stopped at the French-Belgian border in the early morning of Nov. 14 after the attacks, but was allowed to pass after checking his ID. Amimour was later caught and killed in Brussels.
During the airstrikes in Raqqa, an unnamed number of ISIS fighters were killed but did not kill any civilians, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. Twelve French aircraft, including 10 fighter jets, dropped 20 bombs on a command and control center, a jihadi recruitment center, munitions depot and ISIS training camp in Raqqa, France’s Defense Ministry said in a statement. Raqqa is the de facto capital of ISIS’ “caliphate”.
Before the Attacks commenced, Iraq shared intelligence that ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi ordered an attack on countries on any country that is fighting ISIS, but never specified where the attacks would take place.
Europe still remains in terror after the incident, leaving 160 dead and one perpetrator still on the run. France is still commencing Air Strikes on Raqqa, Syria in an effort to fight the Islamic State