AP News in Brief at 11:57 p.m. EST
Scenes of horror as a Paris night becomes a bloodbath
PARIS (AP) - The assailants' weapons were those of war: automatic rifles and suicide belts of explosives. The killing was indiscriminate, spread across a swath of the city, in at least six different sites. An ordinary Friday night in Paris transformed into a bloodbath. The word Parisians used over and over as they tried to make sense of the horror was "carnage."
At the packed Bataclan concert hall in eastern Paris, the attackers opened fire on a crowd waiting to hear American rock band Eagles of Death Metal perform. One witness told France Info radio he heard them yell "Allahu Akbar" - God is great in Arabic - as they started their killing spree and took hostages. The city's police chief, Michel Cadot, said the assailants also wore explosive belts, which they detonated.
About a mile (1.5 kilometers) from there, attackers sprayed gunfire at the Belle Equipe bar, busy as ever on a Friday night with patrons unwinding from their week. One witness, also speaking to French radio, said the dead and wounded dropped "like flies" and that "there was blood everywhere. You feel very alone in moments like that."
The preliminary death toll there appeared to be 18 dead, Paris prosecutor Francois Molins said. White sheets were laid over bodies.
To the north, loud explosions reverberated around the national stadium, packed with some 80,000 fans watching France beat Germany in a soccer exhibition match. One of the loud detonations in the chill air so startled French player Patrice Evra that he paused in mid-run, seemingly lost, and kicked away the ball.
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120 dead in Paris attacks, worst since WWII
PARIS (AP) - A series of attacks targeting young concert-goers, soccer fans and Parisians enjoying a Friday night out at popular nightspots killed at least 120 people in the deadliest violence to strike France since World War II. President Francois Hollande condemned it as terrorism and pledged that France would stand firm against its foes.
The worst carnage was at a concert hall hosting an American rock band, where scores of people were held hostage and attackers ended the standoff by detonating explosive belts. Police who stormed the building encountered a bloody scene of horror inside.
Paris Prosecutor Francois Molins said as many as five attackers were killed, though it was not clear how many there were altogether and how many, if any, were still at large. Other officials said seven attackers had been killed and that police were searching for other possible accomplices.
Authorities said the death toll could exceed 120 for at least six sites, including the national stadium and a tight circle of popular nightspots.
Hollande declared a state of emergency and announced that he was closing the country's borders, although officials later said they were just re-imposing border checks that had been removed after Europe created its free-travel zone in the 1980s.
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The Latest: Obama speaks to French leader
PARIS (AP) - The latest on shootings and explosions in Paris. (all times local):
4:42 a.m.
President Barack Obama has spoken by phone to French President Francois Hollande to offer the condolences of the American people for the attacks in Paris.
The White House says in a statement Friday night that Obama has reiterated the United States' steadfast, unwavering support for the people of France, calling the nation America's oldest ally and friend. Obama also has reaffirmed the offer of any necessary support to the French investigation.
The White House says the two leaders have pledged to work together, and with nations around the world, to defeat the scourge of terrorism.
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Manager trying to confirm safety of band in hostage crisis
NEW YORK (AP) - Management for the Eagles of Death Metal, scheduled to perform Friday night at a Paris venue where at least 100 people were killed, say they are "trying to determine the safety and whereabouts" of the band and its crew.
The American rock band was supposed to perform at the Bataclan, a theater located in eastern Paris near the trendy Oberkampf area. People inside were taken hostage.
It was unclear how many were inside but French police say at least 100 people were killed. The death toll is in addition to the 35 people who died in shootings and explosions in multiple sites in the city Friday night.
"We are still currently trying to determine the safety and whereabouts of all our band and crew. Our thoughts are with all of the people involved in this tragic situation," management for Eagles of Death Metal posted on the band's Facebook page late Friday.
The Atlanta Journal Constitution (http://on-ajc.com/1Qn8Y60 ), quoting the brother of the band's drummer, reported Friday night that all band members escaped the concert hall unharmed. The paper identified the drummer as Atlanta native Julian Dorio.
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Reaction from around the world to Paris attacks
PARIS (AP) - World leaders are reacting to the deadliest violence to strike France since World War II. Some of their views:
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PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA
Obama is calling the attacks on Paris "outrageous attempt to terrorize innocent civilians" and is vowing to do whatever it takes to help bring the perpetrators to justice.
Speaking to reporters at the White House, Obama said he would not speculate about who was responsible.
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Russian track federation suspended, could miss Rio Olympics
LONDON (AP) - Calling it a wake-up call for a sport in a "shameful" position, IAAF President Sebastian Coe said Russia will be banned from next year's Olympics unless it convinces the world it has cleaned up its act on doping.
The sport's governing body provisionally suspended Russia's track and field federation on Friday, four days after the country was accused of operating a vast, state-sponsored doping program in a damning report by a World Anti-Doping Agency commission.
The move bars Russia from all international track and field competition for an indefinite period, including the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, until the country is judged to have fixed its problems and fallen into line with global anti-doping rules.
Coe called the decision - approved 22-1 in a secret vote of the IAAF council via teleconference - "the toughest sanction we can apply at this time." It's the first time the International Association of Athletics Federations has ever banned a country over its doping failures.
"The whole system has failed the athletes, not just in Russia but around the world," Coe said after a meeting that lasted nearly 3 1/2 hours. "This has been a shameful wake-up call and we are clear that cheating at any level will not be tolerated."
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Military: US 'reasonably certain' Jihadi John is dead
WASHINGTON (AP) - The U.S. military is "reasonably certain" its drone strike in Syria killed the masked Islamic State militant known as "Jihadi John," who appeared in several videos depicting the beheadings of Western hostages.
But families of the hostages brutally killed last year said his presumed death is little solace.
Army Col. Steve Warren, U.S. military spokesman in Baghdad, told reporters Friday that officials had been following Mohammed Emwazi, a Kuwaiti-born British citizen, for some time.
"The intelligence indicators that we had gave us great confidence that this individual was Jihadi John and when the opportunity presented itself - with the opportunity for minimal civilian casualties - we took the shot," Warren said. "This guy was a human animal, and killing him is probably making the world a little bit better place."
Another U.S. official told The Associated Press that three drones - two U.S. and one British - targeted the vehicle in which Emwazi was believed to be traveling in Raqqa, the Islamic State's self-proclaimed capital in northern Syria. The official, who was not authorized to speak publicly and requested anonymity, said the U.S. drone, armed with a Hellfire missile, struck the vehicle.
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Climate webcast from Paris suspended after deadly attacks
PARIS (AP) - A Paris webcast of an all-star marathon event about climate change was suspended after the deadly attacks in that city Friday night.
"Out of solidarity with the French people and the City of Paris, we have decided to suspend our broadcast of 24 Hours of Reality and Live Earth," read a statement on the concert's website on Friday night. "Our thoughts are with all who have been affected and the entire nation of France. We send our condolences to the families of those who have been killed or injured."
More than 135 people have been killed in a series of shootings and explosions across the city.
Former U.S. Vice President Al Gore was due to host the 24-hour live webcast from the foot of the Eiffel Tower to drum up attention for this month's international climate summit in Paris.
Besides Gore, who helped negotiate the 1997 climate treaty that failed to control global warming, the broadcast was to feature musical performances by Elton John, Duran Duran and others. Other concerts were to be broadcast from locations around the globe, from Rio de Janeiro to Miami, Sydney and Cape Town.
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Kurdish forces recapture militant-held towns in Iraq, Syria
SINJAR, Iraq (AP) - Dealing a double blow Friday to the Islamic State group, Iraqi Kurdish forces pushed into the strategic town of Sinjar in northern Iraq, and a coalition of Arab, Christian and Kurdish rebel factions recaptured another town from the militants across the border in Syria.
The Kurdish forces raised their flag in the center of Sinjar, and a top official said it was liberated, although U.S. and Kurdish military officials urged caution in declaring victory in the major offensive.
The fighters encountered little resistance, at least initially, suggesting that many of the IS militants may have pulled back in anticipation of the advance. It was also possible that they could be biding their time before striking back.
The offensive to retake Sinjar was launched Thursday by the Kurdish militia fighters known as the peshmerga forces, and they succeeded in cutting a key nearby highway and retaking more than 150 square kilometers (about 60 square miles) of territory from the Islamic State group. Airstrikes by a U.S.-led coalition supported the offensive, dubbed Operation Free Sinjar.
The Kurdistan Region Security Council said 28 villages were retaken from the Islamic State and "more than 300 terrorists were killed by Peshmerga forces and Coalition warplanes" in the course of the two-day operation.
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Past extremist attacks in Western Europe
A look at some past notable extremist attacks in Western Europe:
- Jan. 7, 2015: A gun assault on the Paris offices of satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo kills 12 people. Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it was revenge for Charlie Hebdo's depictions of the Prophet Mohammed.
- May 24, 2014: Four people are killed at the Jewish Museum in Brussels by an intruder with a Kalashnikov. The accused is a former French fighter linked to the Islamic State group in Syria.
- May 22, 2013: Two al-Qaida inspired extremists run down British soldier Lee Rigby in a London street, then stab and hack him to death.
- March 2012: A gunman claiming links to al-Qaida kills three Jewish schoolchildren, a rabbi and three paratroopers in Toulouse, southern France.