France Under More Terror Attacks After Charlie Hebdo:President Obama And Francois Hollande Pledged To Work Together To Defeat Terrorism
France has been under more severe terrorist attacks since Charlie Hebdo. The series of terror attack started in January when two gunmen armed with Kalashnikov rifles stormed the headquarters of the weekly satirical magazine, killing 12 people. They are now being criticized for publishing several cartoons in one of their recent issue mocked the drowned Syrian toddler, 3-year-old Alyan Kurdi.
In the wake of recent tragedies in France, United States president Barack Obama and French president François Hollande have pledged to work together to defeat terrorism.
In reported recent attack, which Barack Obama called an “outrageous attempt to terrorize innocent civilians,” 129 people were reported dead on what officials consider to be the deadliest violence to strike France since World War II. According to Prefect Michel Cadot of Paris Police, the attackers at the Bataclan rock venue blew themselves up with suicide belts as police closed in. He reported that the gunmen started the assault outside the venue before entering to kill some more prior to police arrival.
Police said one set of terrorists were at the concert, while another set attacked in the city around the same time. Officials said eight of the attackers were dead, seven of them in suicide bombing.
CNN calls the most recent attack the “Night of Horror,” reporting how fear was stalking the streets of Paris. Gregory Philipps, deputy editor of France Radio, told them about the intensity of the attack.
“The situation in Paris is very tense. People, they don’t want to go out.”
François Hollande and his office announced a state of emergency and border control.
Emilioi Macchio, an eye witness from Italy who was at the Carillon Bar near the restaurant that was targeted, said the explosions “sounded like fireworks.” When the shooting started, he hid behind a corner first than ran away when he believed it was safe to do so. Several other people at the restaurant, however, were seriously injured.
This sad event took place on the very day the American band, formed in 1998 in Palm Desert, California, was celebrating the October release of Zipper Metal with a European tour.
According to Telegraph, Salah Abdeslam, is the most wanted man in the world now. He is apparently the brother of Ibrahim, one of the seven identified ISIS suicide bombers who’s car was stopped by police in a city near Belgian border on Saturday. He was allowed to proceed after nothing suspicious was found.
Police only discovered this fact after a VW polo was linked to one of the terrorists. The Belgian security service are very convinced that there are a few brothers besides Abdeslam who are on the run, possibly about five others, meaning a total of 20 people may be involved in the plot.
In the most recent AFP reports, French warplanes evaded the Islamic State (IS) stronghold in Syria’s Raqqa on Sunday, demolished a training camp.
“The first target destroyed was used by Daesh (another Arabic acronym for IS) as a command post, jihadist recruitment centre and arms and munitions depot. The second held a terrorist training camp.”
Associated Press reports that Cardinal Andre Vingt-Trois has called on France to pray for hope and not hate. He exhaulted them not to “provoke aggression” in the wake of the attacks as the citizens came together at Notre Dame Cathedral. He urged the country to remember the dead despite the awful attacks on them
“We pray for hope, not hate. The main purpose of us meeting is to pray for the dead, their relatives, the wounded, our country.”
During the service, there was a false alarm of a shooting near the Bataclan, the scene of Friday’s massacre sending police scrambling.
The service ended with members of the congregation being asked to shake hands with those around them before Cardinal Andre concluded.
[Photo by Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images]
