Three of the seven suicide bombers killed in the Paris attacks were French citizens, as was at least one of the seven other people arrested in neighboring Belgium suspected of links to the attacks.
A French police official confirmed that the suicide attacker identified by a skin sample had been living in a Paris suburb. A Belgian official said two of the seven suicide bombers were French men living in Brussels, and among those arrested was another French citizen living in the Belgian capital.
The new information highlighted growing fears of possible homegrown terrorism in France, a country that has exported more jihadis than any other in Europe.
Meanwhile, the ATP has held a minute’s silence for the victims of the Paris attacks, reports The Associated Press.
The tribute came Sunday before Novak Djokovic and Kei Nishikori were to play in the opening match of the season-ending ATP finals at the O2 Arena in London.
The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for Friday’s attacks on the Stade de France, a concert hall and Paris cafes that left 129 people dead and more than 350 wounded, 99 of them seriously.
The shining sun and warm Paris air felt cruelly incongruous as France entered three days of mourning for 129 people killed because they went out on a Friday night.
Some Parisians and tourists defied the high security, walking past heavily armed soldiers in body armour to take pictures beneath the Eiffel Tower.
Survivors who endured two hours of being held hostage by suicide bombers at the Bataclan concert hall, initially silent after the ordeal, have started sharing their memories. Julien Pearce, journalist at Europe 1 radio, says “it took me few seconds to realize it was gunshots.”
Pearce and his friends crawled into a tiny dark room next to the stage where he could see one of the assailants. He says “he seemed very young. That’s what struck me: his childish face, very determined, cold, calm, frightening.”
And in a related development, German President Joachim Gauck has struck a defiant tone against terrorism during an annual event in Germany honoring those killed by war and violent oppression.
Germany’s head of state began his speech Sunday by remembering those killed in the Paris attacks and pledging solidarity with the people of France. Gauck said the perpetrators of Friday’s attacks, which he described as starrting “a new kind of war,” had struck at open societies worldwide.
But he said those responsible for the killings and those who support them, should know “we’ll bow our heads to the dead, but we’ll never bow to terror.”
And a French survivor of the rampage at Paris’ Bataclan concert hall says he was struck by how young the attackers were.
Julien Pearce, journalist at Europe 1 radio, was at the Bataclan concert hall on Friday to attend the concert by the American rock band Eagles of Death Metal. He said when the three attackers stormed in “it took me few seconds to realize it was gunshots.”
Pearce and his friends immediately got down on the ground to avoid the random shots, then ran and crawled into a tiny dark room next to the stage. He says “there was no exit, so we were just in another trap, less exposed, but still a trap.”
Pearce said could discreetly look out and see one of the assailants. He says “he seemed very young. That’s what struck me, his childish face, very determined, cold, calm, frightening.”
Once the attackers reloaded, his group rang across the stage to the emergency exit, helping a wounded woman out. Looking back, he saw “dozens and dozens of entangled, bullet-riddled bodies in a pool of blood.”
Eighty-nine people were killed at the hall.
