Paris attacks: What we know so far

Paris saw a series of explosions and shootings on Friday that reportedly killed at least 140 people and injured many more, Xinhua reported.

Unidentified militants struck restaurants, a soccer stadium and a rock concert Friday evening in the French capital, killing more than 100 people.

French President Francois Hollande on Saturday called the attacks “an act of war”.

“Tonight you’re going to see additional NYPD presence in a few key locations around the city and certainly in front of the French government facilities here and the French Mission to the United Nations and the French Consulate”, Mayor Bill de Blasio said in an interview on NY1.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott is calling the attacks in France “an assault to all of humanity”. Reports suggested that the hostage-taking at the theatre, at which it was reported by French media that dozens were being held, could have been orchestrated by the gunmen responsible for the earlier shooting nearby.

France has been on high alert since the attacks in January against Charlie Hebdo and a Jewish supermarket that left 17 dead. Four attackers were killed, three of whom were wearing explosive belts.

“Once again we’ve seen an outrageous attempt to terrorize innocent civilians”, said US President Barack Obama.

A police official confirmed one explosion in a bar near the stadium.

One of the explosions was caused by a suicide bomber, police and witnesses said.

Police sources said several people were feared to have died – and many others were wounded – when a gunman sprayed bullets at passers by and outside the Bataclan rock music venue near the Place de la Republique.

Amateur footage has captured the panic at the Stade de France in Paris, following an explosion that is reported to have been a suicide blast.

– At least 14 people were killed at the site of the restaurant located on Rue Bichat, in the 10th district of Paris.

Paris Public Prosecutor Francois Molins said the overall death toll was at least 120. Authorities said at least three people died when the bombs went off outside the soccer stadium.

Hollande cancelled plans to travel to Turkey at the weekend for a G20 summit.

Up to 60 people have been killed in four separate attacks across the city.

– An USA band, “Eagles of Death Metal”, a pop alternative group from Palm Desert, California, had been scheduled to play.

The Paris carnage came within days of attacks claimed by Islamic State militants on a Shi’ite Muslim district of southern Beirut in Lebanon, and a Russian tourist aircraft which crashed in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula.

One of at least two restaurants targeted Friday, Le Carillon, is in the same general neighborhood as the Charlie Hebdo offices, as is the Bataclan, among the best-known venues in eastern Paris, near the trendy Oberkampf area known for a vibrant nightlife. It has been a leading ally for America in bombing attacks against Islamic State (IS) over Syria and Iraq, and recently sent its aircraft carrier, the Charles de Gaulle, to the Persian gulf to reinforce its air-strike capacity there.

French authorities are particularly concerned about the threat from hundreds of French Islamic radicals who have travelled to Syria and returned home with skills to stage violence.

Prime Minister John Key says his wife Bronagh has been in touch with their daughter Stephie who lives in Paris where she works as an artist.

– No one has taken responsibility. “That will be a huge question”.