French President Francois Hollande blames ISIS for Paris attacks, calls tragedy 'an act of war'

Paris: French President Francois Hollande said that the Islamic State group orchestrated the worst attacks in France since World War II and vowed to strike back. Hollande said after an emergency security meeting Saturday that the death toll has risen to 127 in a string of near-simultaneous attacks Friday night on a concert hall, stadium and Paris cafes, reported AP. [caption id=“attachment_2506496” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  French president Francois Hollande. AFP[/caption] Earlier in the day, German media reported that a 51-year-old man arrested last week after firearms were discovered in his car has been linked to the Paris attacks. Public broadcaster Bayrischer Rundfunk reported Saturday that German authorities informed French officials about the arrest of the man near the German-Austrian border on 5 November. It didn’t provide a source for its information. Bavarian state police spokesman Ludwig Waldinger confirmed that firearms, explosives and hand grenades had been found. The multiple attacks across the city late Friday were “an act of war… committed by a terrorist army, the Islamic State, against France, against… what we are, a free country,” Hollande said, reported AFP. He declared three days of national mourning and put the nation’s security at its highest level. Meanwhile, the Paris attacks show it is more vital than ever to coordinate global efforts to fight terrorism, France’s foreign minister said Saturday, vowing that French “international action” will not stop. “It is more necessary than ever in the current circumstances to coordinate the international fight against terrorism,” Laurent Fabius said in Vienna at talks on ending the Syrian civil war. “And one of the aims of the meeting today in Vienna is exactly to see concretely how we can further increase the international coordination in the struggle against Daesh,” Fabius told reporters, referring to the Islamic State jihadist group which has overrun swathes of Syria and Iraq. He added that in spite of the attacks “international action by France will continue.” Witnesses said that the gunmen who killed 127 people in Friday’s wave of attacks shouted “Allahu akbar” (“God is greatest”) and blamed France’s military intervention in Syria against Islamic State (IS) extremists. The talks in Vienna involving some 20 countries and international organisations – but no Syrian representatives – aim at working out a roadmap to end the country’s bloody civil war after almost five years of combat. But there are deep divisions, notably between Iran and Russia on one side and Western and Arab nations on the other, on the future of President Bashar al-Assad and which opposition groups to back. With inputs from AP and AFP