France: 3 terrorist teams involved in Paris massacre

The chief prosecutor in France says three teams of terrorists were  involved in Paris massacre, which claimed the lives of nearly 130 people.

One of the attackers has been identified as Ismael Omar Mostefai, who was a resident of the city of Chartres, located 96 kilometers southwest of Paris, until at least 2012, according to a French member of parliament and the mayor of Chartres, Jean-Pierre Gorges.

Assailants struck at least six different venues in and around the French capital in Paris late on Friday, killing nearly 130 people and injuring roughly 350 people, nearly 100 of whom were in critical conditions. The Takfiri Daesh terrorist group claimed responsibility for the attacks in a statement.

"We can say at this stage of the investigation there were probably three coordinated teams of terrorists behind this barbaric act. We have to find who these people are, who their accomplices are, who ordered this, where they come from, [and] how they were financed,” François Molins told reporters on Saturday evening, adding that seven assailants had been killed, all of whom were heavily armored and wearing explosive belts.

Molins added that all the seven gunmen used Kalashnikov rifles and the same type of explosive belts. He also confirmed that one of them was a 30-year-old radicalized Frenchman with a criminal record who had not spent a jail term.

According to the chief prosecutor, two vehicles were suspected: a black Seat used by gunmen at two of the attacks, which remains untraced and a black Volkswagen Polo with Belgian registration plates discovered at the targeted concert venue, used by a male French national living in Belgium.

Meanwhile, Belgian police busted several suspects connected to the attacks. All the arrests were linked to the black Volkswagen Polo found in front of the Bataclan concert hall.

“It is believed or suspected that one of these people was in Paris last night,” Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel told RTBF television on Saturday.

Reports say that Belgium has the highest per-capita number of nationals who have travelled to war-ravaged countries of Syria and Iraq to join the Takfiri front.

The authorities in Germany also said that they were probing a possible connection between the attacks and arrest of a man with a vehicle-load of weapons and explosives in Bavaria last week.

Molins, however, said that the inquiry was in its early stages and multiple lines of investigation were being undertaken simultaneously.

“A Syrian passport in the name of a person born in Syria in September 1990 was found near a suicide bomber who blew himself up at the Stade de France (stadium),” Molins added.

French authorities initially requested Greece to check the passport to see whether the holder had been registered in Greece.

"We confirm that the (Syrian) passport holder came through the Greek island of Leros on October 3 where he was registered under EU rules," said Nikos Toskasa, the Greek minister for citizen protection, in a statement in response to Paris.

Greek officials later denied that the terrorist was a refugee crossing the country into Europe.

Meanwhile, reports said that the father and brother of one of the Paris attackers have been placed in custody.

Foreign nationals among victims

A number of foreigners have so far been confirmed dead following the Paris massacre.

Among the victims, there were two Belgians, two Romanians, two young Tunisian sisters, two Algerians, one Briton, one Portuguese, one Spaniard, one Swede, one Turk and an American, according to the latest updates.

World lamenting loss of lives

Mourners in different countries across the globe reacted to the Paris carnage tragedy and expressed their solidarity with the victims in tears and anger.

Moreover, the French national anthem could be heard in unlikely places throughout the world and iconic monuments in different countries have been adorned with the tree-colored French flag or lit in French flag’s colors.

Bouquets, candles, and messages of condolence have been placed at French embassies worldwide.

French President Francois Hollande also received messages of solidarity from almost all world leaders.

Vowing a “merciless” response to the perpetrators of the Paris massacre, Hollande said the attacks had been “prepared, organized and planned overseas, with help from inside.” 

The European Union has called for a moment of silence for the victims of the carnage.

"We Europeans will all remember November 13th 2015 as a European day of mourning," it said.

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