Hollande: Paris attacks 'act of war', ISIS behind them

French FM Fabius: Paris attacks show need to strengthen fight against ISIS

By REUTERS
Updated: NOVEMBER 14, 2015 13:27
Hollande: Paris attacks 'act of war', ISIS behind them
French President Francois Hollande said on Saturday the deadly attacks in Paris that killed 127 people were "an act of war" organized from abroad by Islamic State with internal help.
He said he would address parliament on Monday in an extraordinary meeting and the country would observe three days of official mourning.
ISIS calls on Muslims to carry out attacks in France
Islamic State released an undated video on Saturday threatening to attack France if bombings of its fighters continue.
Gunmen and bombers attacked restaurants, a concert hall and a sports stadium at locations across Paris on Friday.
Amateur video shows panic during Paris attacks
The group's foreign media arm, Al-Hayat Media Centre, made the threat through a militant who called on French Muslims to carry out attacks.
"As long as you keep bombing you will not live in peace. You will even fear traveling to the market," said the bearded Arabic-speaking militant, flanked by other fighters.  
The video urged Muslims who are unable to travel to Syria to wage holy war to carry out attacks in France.
"Indeed you have been ordered to fight the infidel wherever you find him - what are you waiting for? There are weapons and cars available and targets ready to be hit," the militant said.
"Even poison is available, so poison the water and food of at least one of the enemies of Allah."
There was no immediate verifiable claim of responsibility for the attacks but supporters of the Islamic State militant group, which controls swathes of Iraq and Syria, said in Twitter messages that the group carried them out.
"The State of the caliphate hit the house of the cross," one tweet said.
Friday's deadly attacks in Paris show it is more necessary than ever to coordinate the fight against terrorism, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said on Saturday before international talks aimed at finding a political solution to the war in Syria.
"One of the objectives of the Vienna meeting is to see concretely how we can strengthen the international fight against Daesh," Fabius told reporters in Vienna, using an Arabic acronym for the Islamic State militant group.  
The coordinated assault came as France, a founder member of the US-led coalition waging air strikes against Islamic State fighters in Syria and Iraq, was on high alert for terrorist attacks ahead of a global climate conference due to open later this month.
Some witnesses in the music hall, the site of the deadliest attack on Friday, said they heard the gunmen shout Islamic chants and slogans condemning France's role in Syria.
"We know where these attacks come from," Hollande said, without naming any individual group. "There are indeed good reasons to be afraid."
Hollande said a state of emergency would be declared across France and national borders shut following the spate of attacks that hit the French capital on Friday evening.
Hollande said in a brief statement on television that a cabinet meeting had been called.
"A state of emergency will be declared," Hollande said. "The second measure will be the closure of national borders," he added.
Meanwhile, the Paris municipality asked Parisians in a tweet to stay home.
Hours later, Hollande visited the scene of an attack in central Paris on Saturday morning, one of several which killed at least 120 people across the capital.
"I wanted to be here to measure the scale of this tragedy, this abomination committed in a number of places across the capital by savages who had a desire to kill, to kill the largest number of people possible," he said, surrounded by ministers and the city's mayor.
"We know where these attacks come from," Hollande said, without naming any individual group. "There are indeed good reasons to be afraid."