Paris under attack: Witnesses tell of explosions and bodies

UPDATE: A WITNESS has described how attackers at a Paris concert hall where more than 100 people were killed shouted “Allahu akbar” as they shot at the crowd.

Police and rescuers are seen outside a cafe in10th arrondissement of the French capital Paris, on November 13, 2015. At least 18 people were killed as multiple shootings and explosions hit Paris, police said. Police also said there was an ongoing hostage crisis in the Bataclan a concert hall in the French capital. AFP PHOTO / KENZO TRIBOUILLARD

A WITNESS has described how attackers at a Paris concert hall where more than 100 people were killed shouted “Allahu akbar” (God is greatest) as they shot at the crowd.

Another witness said he heard gunshots as he walked on a street in the 10th district of Paris close to Place de La Republique. When he arrived outside a restaurant he saw bodies on the ground.

“I saw three bodies being put into body bags,” said Fabien Baron, a student.

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A military police officer patrols on Republique Square.

Police officers outside the Stade de France stadium.

BFM television reports there were several dead in the restaurant shooting in the 10th arrondissement of the capital.

“It lasted terribly long,” said a witness, quoted by the French newspaper Liberation.

“He lifted his Kalashnikov, he pulled into the Carillon. We could hear people screaming, you could not hear the shooter.”

Emilioi Macchio, from Ravenna, Italy, was at the Carillon bar near the restaurant that was targeted when the shooting started. He said he didn’t see any gunmen or victims, but hid behind a corner, then ran away.

“It sounded like fireworks,” he said.

Rescue workers walk past victims in the 10th district of Paris. (AP Photo/Jacques Brinon)

Australian expat Sam Davies, 33, is locked in a bar about 300 metres from the attack on the Le Carrillon and Le Petit Cambodg in the 10th arrondissement.

He said most bars in the area had gone into lockdown.

“Everyone is wandering around dazed in a state of shock,” he told News Corp Australia.

“I don’t know much about what is happening but I’ve been getting a lot of phone calls, Facebook messages and texts

“The first I heard was when a friend called me to say the place next door to me had been attacked.”

Formerly from Melbourne, Mr Davies has lived in Paris for eight years and lives next door to Le Carillon.

He had planned to be there but had decided instead to see a friend’s band play at another bar.

In another twist of fate, he had gone to the Bataclan theatre, where hostages are being held, last night.

He said he was horrified the popular Le Carillon bar and neighbouring Cambodian restaurant were targeted.

“This isn’t a tourist area, this is young, hipsters,” he said. “Le Carillon is the hipster ground zero of Paris.

“For me, it’s an incongruous attack. It’s a friendly, vibrant area of young people where all the cafes and bars are opening up.

A policeman stands behind a cordon blocking the street near the site of an attack in a restaurant in Paris. AFP PHOTO

“It’s the only place in Paris where you can get a good coffee. It’s like Fitzroy in Melbourne.

“The Carillon is my local, it’s the local dive bar, the bar everyone loved.

“It’s really shocking to me, I cannot understand it.”

Another attack was reported at a Cambodian restaurant called Petit Cambodge, not far from the Bataclan venue in northeast Paris.

“We heard gunfire, 30 seconds of fire, it was interminable, we thought it was fireworks,” said Pierre Montfort, who lives near rue Bichat, where one of the attacks happened.

“My sister is in the Bataclan,” said Camille, 25.

“I phoned her. She said they opened fire. And then she hung up.”

“Everyone was on the floor, no one moved,” said one witness from the Petit Cambodge restaurant.

A medic tends to a man in a Paris street.

“A girl was carried by a young man in his arms. She appeared to be dead.”

An AFP reporter outside the Bataclan said there were armed police and some 20 police wagons with their lights flashing around the scene.

France has been on edge since deadly attacks in January by Islamic extremists on satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo and a kosher grocery that left 20 dead, including the three attackers. The restaurant targeted on Friday, Le Carillon, is in the same general neighbourhood as the Charlie Hebdo offices.

So is the Bataclan, among the best-known venues in eastern Paris, near the trendy Oberkampf area known for a vibrant night-life.

No one immediately claimed responsibility for Friday’s attacks. France 24 television said President Francois Hollande had been at the Stade de France at the time of the attacks, and was rushed from the area.

Police and rescuers outside a cafe where people were killed AFP PHOTO

He has called an emergency cabinet meeting in Paris.

US security officials believe the series of attacks were likely co-ordinated, based on initial reports.

“This clearly looks like a co-ordinated series of attacks,” a person familiar with developing intelligence assessments told Reuters.

Originally published as Paris under attack: Witnesses tell of explosions and bodies