'This attack is just the start': ISIS proudly claims responsibility for Paris attacks

In a chilling statement, released by the extremist group .... ISIS said it masterminded the horrifying attacks on the French capital in revenge for 'insulting' the prophet Muhammad.

The terrorist group singled out France for its involvement in the bombing campaign against ISIS territory in Iraq and Syria and said it murdered French citizens because the nation 'boasted' about its military contribution.

The statement, in French and Arabic, condemned France, saying they are at risk 'as long as they dare to insult our Prophet, and as long as they boast about their war against Islam in France and their strikes against Muslims in the lands of the Caliphate with their jets, which were of no avail to them in the filthy streets and alleys of Paris'.

Gunman caught on security camera

Three teams carried out the attacks in the French capital which killed 129 people and left more than 350 wounded, the Paris chief prosecutor says.

"We have to find out where they came from... and how they were financed," Francois Molins told reporters. He said seven attackers had been killed, and that all had been heavily armed and wearing explosive belts.

Friday's attacks hit a concert hall, a major stadium, restaurants and bars. Prime Minister Manuel Valls has said France will continue with air strikes against IS in Syria and described the group as a very well-organized enemy.

Mr Molins confirmed that one of the dead attackers had been identified as a 29-year-old Frenchman who had a criminal record, but had never spent time in jail.

Omar Ismaïl Mostefai was identified after his finger was found at the Bataclan concert hall and matched fingerprints the police had on file, AFP reported.

Mostefai came from the town of Courcouronnes, 25km (15 miles) south of Paris. He had been identified by the security services as having been radicalized but had never been implicated in a counter-terrorism investigation.
Investigators are trying to find out whether he travelled to Syria in 2014, judicial sources have stated. French police have taken Mostefai's father and brother into custody and searched their homes.
Mostefai's older brother attended a police station voluntarily.
"It's crazy, insane. I was in Paris myself last night, I saw what a mess it was," he told AFP before being placed in custody. He said he had not had contact with his younger brother for several years.

Mr Molins also said the arrests of three men in Belgium on Saturday were linked to the attacks. Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel said investigators were trying to establish whether one of the suspects picked up near Brussels might have been in Paris on Friday evening.Speaking in Paris on Saturday evening, Mr Molins told reporters: "We can say at this stage of the investigation there were probably three co-ordinated teams of terrorists behind this barbaric act." Mr Molins said all seven militants had used Kalashnikov assault rifles and the same type of explosive vests.Mr Molins also gave details about the state of the investigation, which he said was at a very early stage. He said police were focusing on two vehicles. One is a black Seat used by gunmen at two of the attacks, and still untraced. The other is a black Volkswagen Polo with Belgian registration plates found at the concert venue that was targeted. He said this had been rented by a Frenchman living in Belgium. He was identified while driving another vehicle in a spot check by police on Saturday morning as he crossed into Belgium with two passengers.

 Investigators are working on the theory that these three may be another team of attackers who managed to flee the scene. The Greek authorities say two people under investigation by the French police had registered in Greece as Syrian refugees. A Syrian passport was found near the body of one the attackers at the Stade de France.
An Egyptian passport has also been linked to the attacks.
French President Francois Hollande imposed a state of emergency after the worst peacetime attack in France since World War Two. It is also the deadliest in Europe since the 2004 Madrid bombings.
The violence began soon after 9:PM as people were enjoying a Friday night out in the French capital.  Gunmen opened fire on Le Carillon bar and Le Petit Cambodge (Little Cambodia) restaurant, near the Place de la Republique in the 10th arrondissement (district), killing 15 people.
"We heard the sound of guns, 30-second bursts. It was endless," resident Pierre Montfort said.

A few streets away, diners sitting on the terrace of La Casa Nostra pizzeria were also fired on, with the loss of five lives.
Mr Molins said 19 people had been killed at the Belle Equipe bar in the 11th arrondissement, while the toll from the attack on the Bataclan concert hall stood at 89.
At about the same time, on the northern outskirts of Paris, 80,000 people who had gathered to watch France play Germany at the Stade de France heard three explosions outside the stadium.
President Hollande was among the spectators and was whisked away after the first blast. Investigators had found the bodies of three suicide bombers around the Stade de France, Mr Molins said. One other person died in the blasts.



Attack sites:

La Belle Equipe, 92 rue de Charonne, 11th district - 19 dead in gun attacks

Le Carillon bar and Le Petit Cambodge restaurant at rue Alibert, 10th district - 15 dead in gun attacks
La Casa Nostra restaurant, 92 rue de la Fontaine au Roi, 11th district - five dead in gun attacks
Stade de France, St Denis, just north of Paris - explosions heard outside venue, three attackers and bystander dead
Bataclan concert venue, 50 Boulevard Voltaire, 11th district - 89 dead when stormed by gunmen
The 1,500-seat Bataclan concert hall in the 11th arrondissement suffered the worst of Friday night's attacks. Gunmen opened fire on a sell-out gig by US rock group Eagles of Death Metal, killing 89 people.
"At first we thought it was part of the show but we quickly understood," Pierre Janaszak, a radio presenter, told AFP news agency.
"They didn't stop firing. There was blood everywhere, corpses everywhere. We heard screaming. Everyone was trying to flee."
He said the gunmen took 20 hostages, and he heard one of them tell their captives: "It's Hollande's fault, he should not have intervened in Syria."
Within an hour, security forces had stormed the concert hall and all three attackers there were dead.
The Islamic State statement on Saturday said "eight brothers wearing explosive belts and carrying assault rifles" had carried out the attacks on "carefully chosen" targets. President Hollande said France had been "attacked in a cowardly shameful and violent way".
"So France will be merciless in its response to the Daesh [Islamic State] militants," he said, vowing to "use all means within the law.. on every battleground here and abroad together with our allies".
Many officials buildings as well as Disneyland Paris have been closed, sports events have been cancelled and large gatherings have been banned for the next five days.



The scale of the near-simultaneous bombings and shootings in Paris has left France reeling in shock.

With nearly 130 people dead, along with eight suicide bombers, it is Europe's worst terrorist attack since the 2004 Madrid train bombings.
It raises new, pressing questions about the ability of Western security forces to prevent such random carnage.

Why did this happen in Paris?

Paris has been on heightened alert since the January terror attacks, when Islamist gunmen attacked the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, a policewoman and a Jewish supermarket, killing 17 people.
Amedy Coulibaly, who killed four hostages in the supermarket before being shot dead by police, claimed to be acting in the name of IS.
For many years some deprived housing estates in the suburbs of Paris and other cities have been fertile ground for Islamic extremists. Jihad has appeared seductive for some alienated young Muslims in areas of high unemployment and urban neglect.
More than 500 French Muslims have gone to fight with jihadists in Syria and Iraq, experts say - more than from any other Western country. French warplanes have repeatedly attacked IS fighters in Syria and Iraq, as part of the US-led campaign against the group.
What does the choice of targets suggest?
They were soft civilian targets in Paris - the intention was evidently to kill as many people as possible, randomly.
The high-profile football game at the Stade de France was clearly a potential target.
But the fact that three suicide bombers blew themselves up nearby at three eating places was unusual. France has not experienced such near-simultaneous bombings before.
Then the attack on Bataclan concert hall - again by suicide bombers - was also designed to kill ordinary young French people having fun on a Friday night. It happened during a rock concert. More than 80 rock fans died in the mayhem.
An angry President Francois Hollande on Saturday promised a "merciless" response to the wave of attacks.
"Faced with war, the country must take appropriate action," Hollande said after an emergency meeting of security chiefs. He also announced three days of national mourning.


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