Paris terror attacks

Coordinated attacks by terrorists in Paris, France, on the evening of Nov. 13 left 130 people dead and hundreds more injured. The Islamist militant group ISIL, or Daesh, took credit for the attacks.

In the deadliest incident of the night, three men in suicide vests and armed with assault rifles took hundreds of people hostage in the venue Bataclan, where a concert was taking place. During the hostage situation and subsequent police action, 89 people were killed. Two of the men detonated their bombs as police tried to free the hostages, while the third was killed by police. 

Around the same time, at least two men armed with assault rifles  attacked three cafés in central Paris, killing 39 people.

Three suicide bombers also targeted the Stade de France in northern Paris, where a match between the national soccer teams of Germany and France was being played. The bombers were unable to enter the stadium and only one person was killed. A fourth suicide bomber detonated his bomb on a nearby street where no one was present. 

The suspected ringleader of the attacks, Abdelhamid Abaaboud, was traced to the Saint Denis neighborhood in northern Paris. Abaaboud and three associates were killed during a police raid on Nov. 23.

Investigators determined that the attack was planned from Brussels, Belgium. Due to intelligence indicating that Brussels would be targeted by a similar attack, the city initiated a 4-day lockdown starting on Nov. 21, closing schools, public buildings and public transportation and asking people to stay inside. No attack occurred. 

After the Paris attacks, French president François Hollande increased France’s air strikes against ISIL targets in Syria and Iraq.