Paris attacks: At least 128 reported dead in French capital after shootings and explosions rock city

The attacks come ten months after the city was stunned by the Charlie Hebdo attacks

(Twitter)

At least 128 people are reported to have died on Friday night in what appeared to be a series of coordinated terrorist shootings outside bars, restaurants and a rock concert hall in eastern Paris. A further 100 people were held hostage.

A Paris city hall official said four gunmen systematically slaughtered at least 87 people at a rock concert at the Bataclan concert hall.

Some 40 more people were killed in in five other attacks in the Paris region, a French official said, including an apparent double suicide bombing outside the State de France sports stadium.

Authorities in France believe that all eight of the attackers responsible for violence are dead , including seven who blew themselves up with suicide bombs.

The city’s prosecutor said it is possible there are still terrorists on the run and a manhunt is underway for accomplices.

Two explosions were heard near the Stade de France sports stadium during a France v Germany football friendly. The French president, Francois Hollande, was hustled away from his seat in the stand.

The blasts were audible on television during the live broadcast. A witness said one of the detonations blew people into the air outside a McDonald's restaurant opposite the stadium.

Police sources said at least 80 people are feared dead after attackers, wearing suicide belts, blew themselves up, many others were wounded at the Bataclan rock music venue near the Place de la Republique. Late on Friday night a gunman was reported to be holding several people hostage within the concert hall.

Minutes earlier, there were two separate gun attacks on restaurants and bars near the Canal Saint Martin – also in the 10th arrondissement of Paris. One police officer described the scene as "carnage...a massacre".

Lone gunmen were reported to have sprayed the bars with bullets, leaving several customers dead or wounded.

As many as 18 people died when the terrace of the La Belle Equipe was sprayed with gunfire, while around 14 people were killed at Le Carillon bar-cafe, and there was shooting at the nearby Cambodian restaurant Le Petit Cambodge.

The attacks occurred ten months after the jihadist shootings which killed 20 people at the offices of Charlie Hebdo magazine, less than a mile from last night’s shootings.

Two explosions were clearly heard within the Stade de France football stadium. Police said that a grenade appeared to have been hurled at a bar near the stadium. There were no immediate reports of casualties.

The three gun attacks in the 10th arrondissement were reported to have occurred at around 9.30pm, local time, including one outside a restaurant-bar called Le Cendrillon on the Rue de la Fontaine. The pavements outside the bar were said to have been crowded with Friday-night revellers, who had spilled onto the street on an unseasonably warm evening.