At least 120 people have been reportedly killed and over 200 injured, as Paris was hit by a series of explosions, shootings and mass hostage-taking on Friday evening. French news channels reported that at least six locations across the city were targeted, including a concert venue where hostages had been taken in a two-hour standoff with the police, the national sports stadium where France was playing Germany, and two restaurants. Witnesses said on French television that the scene at the Bataclan concert hall, which can seat as many as 1,500 people, was a massacre.
French President Francois Hollande called it an unprecedented terrorist attack on the country. He announced sharply increased border controls and mobilised the military in a national emergency, reported The Guardian. The French cabinet said in a release that the state of emergency will "allow the house arrest of any person whose activity is dangerous, the temporary closure of theaters and meeting places, the confiscation of weapons, and the ability to carry out administrative searches."
The police said that eight terrorists are dead, seven of them in suicide bombings. It also said that there is a possibility of some attackers still being at large. There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but members and sympathisers of the Islamic State militant group celebrated the attacks on Twitter, reported The New York Times.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi condemned the attacks in a tweet:
The Indian Embassy in Paris has released its helpline number:
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