The Paris Attacks: What We Know Right Now

Paris in Mourning
A bird flies in front of the Eiffel Tower, which remained closed on the first of three days of national mourning, in Paris, on Sunday. (Photo by Daniel Ochoa de Olza/AP)

Updated 4:25 a.m. ET Monday:

French Prime Minister Manuel Valls tells French radio RTL that there have been more than 150 raids throughout the night in France. More are expected.

Sunday’s post:

As France observed its first of three days of national mourning, police said they were looking for a suspect who they believe may have been involved in the coordinated attacks that left scores dead in Paris on Friday.

The attack targeted at least six sites across Paris, including the national stadium, a crowded concert hall and several restaurants.

On Saturday, investigators said they believe three well-organized teams of assailants carried out the attacks with automatic weapons and explosive devices. The Islamic State released a statement claiming responsibility for the attack, and French president Francois Hollande called the attacks “an act of war.”

Here’s what we know right now:

The Latest

  • There is a manhunt underway for the newly identified suspect. Police named the suspect as 26-year-old Abdeslam Salah. In a tweet, police said Salah was a “dangerous individual.” Salah, police said, was born in Brussels but holds French citizenship.
  • Police questioned and freed that fugitive suspect just hours after the attacks, French officials have told the Associated Press.
  • France has intensified its air campaign against Islamic State targets in Syria. 10 French fighter jets dropped 20 bombs on ISIS facilities in Syria, including a command and recruitment center and a training camp. The French defense ministry says the strike’s objectives were achieved.
  • The death toll remained at 129. Earlier, we reported that it had climbed to 132, because a Paris hospital said three people had died. Those people died on Saturday, the BBC reports, and had already been counted in the total.
  • Seven of the attackers died on Friday night, police say. Reuters and the AP report that Paris’ prosecutor said that two more of the attackers had been identified using fingerprints. Authorities had earlier identified one attacker as Ismael Mostefai.
  • Authorities in Belgium arrested seven people in connection to the attacks.
  • As the sun set on Paris Sunday, hundreds gathered in the Place de la République. NPR’s Eleanor Beardsley reports that suddenly, a stampede broke out. “People were almost trampled. Police were around, but no one knew what’s going on.” Perhaps a testament to the fear in Paris, it turned out there was no real threat and the crowd eventually returned to the square.

The Investigation:

  • Police have found what they believe is a getaway car used by at least one of the Paris attackers. NPR’s Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson reports it matches the description of the car used by gunmen who attacked Le Carillon bar and Le Petit Cambodge restaurant in Paris. Soraya reports on the scene:

Three Kalashnikovs are reported to have been found inside the car. Residents tell NPR that police descended on Rue Edouard Vaillant after 10 p.m. and closed the narrow street late last night until 5 a.m. Sunday. Resident Abdelhak Esshib, who hurried his 7-year-old daughter Aisha past the crime scene on their way home from the market, says he’s convinced the gunmen couldn’t have come from their family-friendly neighborhood, but that’s probably why they chose to leave the car there because it’s not a place police would look for terrorism suspects. “This is a really secure location,” he says. “I often take my daughter to the community pool on this street.”

  • This morning, NPR’s Dina Temple-Raston reports that police are looking for an eighth assailant who may have been driving that car.
  • Dina told us Saturday that police suspected a link to the Islamic State — even before the organization claimed responsibility — because of cellphone conversations or texts the gunmen were exchanging during the attacks which mentioned ISIS.
  • Police have identified one of the dead attackers as 29-year-old Ismael Mostefai. French officials say Mostefai was a French citizen from the city of Chartres and had been flagged for links to Islamic radicalism. NPR’s Dina Temple-Raston reports that Mostefai was “seen as a risk but never linked to a plot.”
  • Police in Belgium arrested seven people in connection to the Paris attacks, the public broadcaster RTBF in Belgium reports. Reuters adds that Belgian Justice Minister Koen Geens said the arrests were related to a vehicle with Belgian license plates. Witnesses, reports Reuters, say that a car with Belgian plates was spotted near the Bataclan concert venue.
  • Authorities found a Syrian passport next to one of the dead suicide bombers. Joanna Kakissis reports that authorities say someone holding that passport was registered as an asylum-seeker on the Greek island of Leros and in Presevo, Serbia, last month. Authorities are still trying to determine if the passport belongs to the bomber. The man in the passport, Ahmad al-Mohammad, was born in Idlib in northwestern Syria. He was fingerprinted, interviewed and registered as he passed through Greece — just one of more than 800,000 asylum-seekers who have arrived in the country this year, Joanna says.
  • Meanwhile, Jean-Claude Juncker, the president of the European Commission, said that Europe must continue to resettle refugees. “The one who is responsible for the attacks in Paris cannot be put at equal foot with real refugees, with asylum-seekers,” he said.

The Victims:

  • Nearly a hundred victims are in critical condition.
  • Twenty to 30 of the victims are still unidentified. French Prime Minister Manuel Valls told reporters that they would be identified in the coming hours.
  • Even though authorities urged Parisians to stay home, many poured out onto Place de la République — the same spot they fled to after the Charlie Hebdo attacks. NPR’s Eleanor Beardsley reports that thousands placed flowers at the square and at the site of the other shootings. The New York Times spoke to Raphaella Giraudi, who was at the Place de la République with her 11-year-old daughter and 5-year-old son. She said: “I came here with my children to let them see that we should not be afraid.” Journalist Geert Gordijn, of RTL News, posted this video:

The Reaction:

  • President Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin met on the sidelines of the G20 Summit in Antalya. Citing a White House official, the press pool reports the two talked for 35 minutes about how to “resolve the conflict in Syria, an imperative made all the more urgent by the horrifying terrorist attacks in Paris.”

The pooler went on:

“Specifically, President Obama and President Putin agreed on the need for a Syrian-led and Syrian-owned political transition, which would be proceeded by UN-mediated negotiations between the Syrian opposition and regime as well a ceasefire. As the diplomacy continues, President Obama welcomed efforts by all nations to confront the terrorist group ISIL and noted the importance of Russia’s military efforts in Syria focusing on the group.”

  • French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve called for an urgent meeting of European Union authorities

In a statement, Cazeneuve said the EU had to move on priorities outlined since the Charlie Hebdo attack in January, including better firearms control, exchange of intelligence and border controls.

During a press conference, Cazeneuve called for border controls to be reinstated within the European Union.

  • The AFP reports that after a long meeting with French President François Hollande, former president Nicolas Sarkozy will demand a delay of United Nations climate talks that are scheduled to take place in Paris.

The AFP reports: “The French government has said the conference, which begins on November 30, will take place as planned, but one of the party sources said: ‘Going ahead with it would mean taking unbelievable risks.’ ”

  • After the meeting, Sarkozy also addressed reports that one of the attackers may have posed a Syrian refugee. Per The New York Times:

“‘Europe should pull itself together and determine the conditions of a new immigration policy,’ he said… ‘Naturally, there is no link, but the concern arises. We need to rein in together the wave of migration ensuing from the Syrian situation.’

“The former president also called for harsh measures against those who even look up terrorist propaganda online.

“Referring to systems in place to protect France’s national security, he said: ‘It seems to me that we must draw lessons from its flaws and adapt measures concerning all those who consult jihadist websites, all those carrying out jihad.'”

  • French media report that an extra 3,000 troops will be deployed across the country by Tuesday.
Copyright 2015 NPR. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.
Read Original Article – Published NOVEMBER 15, 2015 8:35 AM ET

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