French President François Hollande calls attacks 'act of war' by ISIS, group later claims responsibility
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French President François Hollande called the six terrorist attacks that killed at least 127 people across Paris an "act of war" Saturday morning, The Wall Street Journal reports.
"It is an act of war that was waged by a terrorist army, a jihadist army, by Daesh, against France," he said, referring to the Islamic State by its Arabic name. "This act of war was prepared and planned from the outside, with accomplices inside."
After Hollande spoke, The Washington Post reports a group purporting to be ISIS claimed responsibility in an online statement for the Friday attacks, the worst on French soil since World War II.
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Eight attackers have died — seven of them in suicide bombings — the Paris prosecutor's office said Saturday. Hollande declared a national state of emergency Friday.
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Julie Kliegman is a freelance writer based in New York. Her work has appeared in BuzzFeed, Vox, Mental Floss, Paste, the Tampa Bay Times and PolitiFact. Her cats can do somersaults.
