LIVE BLOG: Deadly attacks strike heart of France

Belgium’s Home Affairs minister Jam Jambon reportedly warned that the Islamic State (IS) group uses the Playstation 4 game console to communicate with each other.

“PlayStation 4 is even more difficult to keep track of than WhatsApp,” he said.

Back in June, police arrested a 14-year-old Austrian for downloading bomb plans onto his Playstation 4.

Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump on Saturday said the terror strikes in Paris that killed at least 129 "would have been different" if civilians had been armed.

"When you look at Paris, toughest gun laws in the world, nobody had guns but the bad guys," he said on the 2016 campaign trail in Texas, after a moment of silence for the dead in Friday's attacks on the French capital.

Trump, 69, a billionaire real estate developer who admits he sometimes carries a gun to protect himself, added: "Nobody had guns. And they were just shooting them one by one, and then they broke in and had a big shootout and ultimately killed the terrorists.

"And I will tell you what - you can say what you want, if they had guns, if our people had guns, if they were allowed to carry, it would have been a much, much different situation."

According to the US newspaper the Wall Street Journal, the first suicide bomber had a ticket to the football match and attempted to enter the stadium, quoting a Stade de France security guard.

The guard - who wished only to be identified by his first name, Zouheir – told the paper that guards discovered the attacker wearing an explosives vest while he was frisked at the stadium’s entrance around 15 minutes after the match began.

After the guards found out about his vest, the attacker detonated his vest, which was loaded with explosives, said Paris prosecutor François Molins. The frisking team at the gate briefed Zouheir, who was on duty to guard the tunnel used by players.

The assault on one of the leading concert halls in Paris has sent shockwaves through the music world, with top-selling artists including U2 and Foo Fighters calling off shows.

"Shocked, sad and angry. We are all Parisian today," tweeted Peter Gabriel, one of many prominent musicians who took to social media after Friday's night coordinated attacks in the French capital.

More than 80 people were killed inside the Bataclan concert hall as gunmen opened fire during a performance by the California rock band Eagles of Death Metal, an attack for which the Islamic State group took responsibility.

France's Culture Minister Fleur Pellerin laid a bouquet of flowers Saturday in front of the Bataclan, a historic venue which is striking for its 19th-century chinoiserie architecture.

A short while earlier, an anonymous man brought a mobile keyboard near the entrance and played songs including John Lennon's pacifist anthem "Imagine" under the eye of a pack of photographers.

A US student from California was killed in the Paris attacks, her university said Saturday.

It was the first word of an American being among the victims of the Friday night massacre.

The State Department said separately that some Americans were wounded in the deadly attacks but it did not specify how many.

The student killed in the string of shootings and explosions was identified as Nohemi Gonzalez, a third-year design student at California State University, Long Beach.

She was in Paris doing a semester abroad, studying at Strate College of Design, the university said. The State Department said it could not immediately confirm the death.

Dozens of Syrian rebel groups on Saturday strongly denounced the Islamic State jihadist group's attacks on Paris as "against human values" in a joint online statement.

And Syrian activists, refugees, and civilians in the war-torn country expressed their solidarity with France in posts on social media.

Forty-nine armed factions in Syria, including the powerful Jaish al-Islam rebel groups, condemned "in the strongest terms" the Islamic State (IS) group's coordinated assault in Paris that killed at least 129 people.

"We learned today, with great shock and condemnation, about the terrorist attacks against civilians in the city of Paris," the joint statement said.

It called IS's actions "criminal attacks that are against (Islamic) laws and human values".

Most rebel groups in Syria fiercely oppose both the regime of President Bashar al-Assad and IS, which has declared a self-styled "caliphate" in parts of Syria and Iraq.

"This terrorism does not differ from the terrorism that the Syrian people have suffered from every day for the past five years," the groups said. 

They pledged to continue to "fight terrorism" and urged the international community to address the root cause of extremism in Syria.

"The real victim of the continuation of the Assad regime and its terrorist organisations is the whole world, not just the Syrian people," the statement said.

Meanwhile, Syrians around the world expressed their solidarity with the people of Paris online.

Activists from the northwest province of Idlib and from the IS-held city of Raqa overlaid their profile pictures on social media accounts with the French flag.

Residents of Douma, a rebel-held town east of Damascus frequently bombarded by Syria's regime, wrote an open letter to the French people.

"First, and before everything, we express our warm condolences to the French families who lost loved ones," the letter said.

"We condemn in the strongest of terms the targeting of civilians there and anywhere around the world," the residents wrote.

"We extend our hands to all the people that love peace and freedom, most of all the French people."

More than 250,000 people have been killed in the Syria conflict since March 2011. 

Two Algerians were among at least 129 people killed in the gun and bomb attacks in Paris claimed by the Islamic State group, the official APS news agency said Saturday.

The agency cited diplomatic sources as saying they were a woman aged 40 and a 29-year-old man, but did not give their names.

Algeria, which has the largest foreign community in France, has set up a crisis centre at the foreign ministry and at its Paris embassy to provide assistance to any families of Algerian victims of the attacks.

Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika on Saturday branded the Paris attacks as a "crime against humanity" and urged international solidarity in the face of extremism.

Several TV presenters and journalists known to be supporters of Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi, have been criticised for expressing apparent “delight” over the Paris attacks, according to a report in Middle East Monitor.

“We will send a team to inspect restaurants in Paris,” tweeted Lamis Al-Hadidi, “that [security] would be a source of concern.”

Kuwaiti writer Fajr Al-Saeed, who is known to be a staunch supporter of Al-Sisi, took the opportunity to be even more sarcastic about the events in Paris. She posted 14 tweets while commenting on the shootings and bombings. “Flights should be grounded and all tourists should leave Paris. It would not be wrong to declare Paris a disaster area. I hope that Ban Ki-moon will express concern. Why only at Sharm Al-Sheikh?” Responding to the Paris police calling on citizens not to leave their homes unless absolutely necessary she said, “Frankly, I am delighted.”

First explosion took place at the Stade de France at 21:20.

At 21:25 in Paris, people sat at the tables in Le Carillon bar and at the Le Petit Cambodge restaurant were fired on by a kalashnikov, from a car which was a Seat Leon. Fifteen people died on the scene.

At 21:30 a second explosion took place at Gate H of the Stade de France. The body of a suicide bomber was discovered on the scene, similar to the one that had been found in front of Gate D.

At 21:32 at the corner of the Rue du Faubourg-du-Temple and the rue de la Fontaine-au-Roi, there was another shooting incident in front of the bar “A la Bonne Biere”, which resulted in 5 deaths and 8 injured in intense care. Witnesses identified the car as a black Seat.

At 21:36, at 92 rue de Charonne, fresh outbursts of gunfire caused the death of 19 people, by gunmen who had arrived on board a black Seat car.

Around 21:40 at 2253 boulevard Voltaire, at the Comptoir Voltaire restaurant, a suicide bomber exploded his device. One person was seriously wounded and others lightly wounded.

At 21:40 in Paris a black Polo car is parked in front of the Bataclan. Three people armed with battlefield weapons broke into the hall, and sprayed the audience with gunfire, and took hostage people who had taken refuge in the orchestra pit. The terrorists spoke of Syria and Iraq.

All three terrorists were killed when the assault ( by police) took place, one by a bullet fired by the assault team, while the other two died by activating their explosive belts. As I speak to you, there are 89 dead and three seriously wounded [at the Bataclan].

At 21:53 at Saint-Denis , 400 metres from the stadium, rue de la Cocker, there is a third explosion. There the body of a suicide bomber was found.

One can say, at this stage in the investigation, that very likely there were three teams of terrorists, who were coordinated with each other, who are the cause of these atrocities. The investigation will seek to establish their accomplices, their organisers, their movements and how this operation was financed.

I can say , at this stage, that the terrorist in charge of the taking of hostages at the Bataclan has been formally identified. He is an individual born on 21 November 1985 at Courcouronnes, known by the courts for common law offences (Eight sentences between 2004 and 2010) who had never been in prison but was the object of an S Notice in 2010 for radicalisation . He has never been implicated  in or associated with  terrorists.

Next to the body of the suicide bomber of 21:20,a Syrian passport was found of an individual born in September 1990. He is not known by the French intelligence service.

The seven terrorists used assault rifles , 7.62 caliber weapons, and identical explosives. On each there was an explosive belt with TATP explosive, and a trigger using the same buttons and batteries.

Video footage has identified a black Seat and a black Polo registered in Belgian. This latter car was hired by a Frenchman living in Belgium. He was found this morning at the Belgium frontier in another car in which there was two other people who are resident in the region of Brussels.

The North terminal of Gatwick airport near London was evacuated on Saturday morning when a man was apprehended reportedly carrying a bag full of grenades.

The bomb squad arrived to deal with the suspected explosive devices.

In the south terminal of the airport, people were told to stay inside and have still not been allowed to leave.

Those who were evacuated from the north terminal earlier are outside waiting to be let back in.

Commenters on the ground say the atmosphere is calm.

French experts have estimated that the suicide bombers who attacked Paris last night were between 15 and 18 years of age.

The Medico-Legal Institute of Paris spoke to French radio station Europe1 just now, saying they believe the attackers were not older than 18.

Several foreigners have been identified as victims of Friday's deadly terrorist attacks in Paris, which left at least 129 dead and 300 injured:

BELGIUM: At least two victims, according to the Belgian foreign ministry.

ROMANIA: Two Romanian nationals, according to the foreign ministry in Bucharest.

TUNISIA: Two young Tunisians, sisters who lived in the centre-eastern French region of Creusot and who were celebrating in Paris a friend's birthday, according to the Tunisian foreign ministry.

BRITAIN: One Briton killed, a "handful" feared dead: government source

PORTUGAL: A 63-year-old Portuguese national, who lived in Paris and who worked in public transport, died near to the Stade de France sports stadium, according to the Portuguese authorities.

SWEDEN: Two Swedish citizens may be among the victims of the attacks, the foreign ministry says.

SPAIN: 29-year-old Alberto González Garrido, according to the Spanish authorities, was attending a  concert at the Bataclan theatre when it was attacked.

A "Peace for Paris" symbol, combining the city's beloved Eiffel Tower with the peace sign of the Sixties, has gone viral following the Paris terror attacks.

The designer is a 32-year-old French graphic artist, Jean Jullien, who lives in London.

Listening to the radio, he became horrified by the violence unfolding in his nation's capital and reached for his sketchpad.

"My first reaction was to draw something and share it," he told AFP. "It was spontaneous. I wanted to do something that could be useful for people."

"Given the scale of the violence, the peace-and-love symbol was essential. It was then quite an easy thing to combine it with the Eiffel Tower, the symbol of Paris," he added. "The two symbols fit together."

The peace-and-love motif was adopted by Britain's Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) in the 1950s, before being used by anti-war and "counter-culture" militants in the 1960s.

Jullien posted the combined symbol on his website and then tweeted it. Within hours, it was shared more 45,000 times and retweeted 76,000 times, including by the British underground artist Banksy.

Theresa Cede, who was in the audience at the Bataclan, recounted the horror of Friday's attack. She told BBC Radio 5live: "There were grenades, or one grenade at least that I know of. Body parts flying around, people shouting, screaming.

"But then, you know, at the moment, like, everybody who could would become as quiet as possible, just not to move. And it lasted a lifetime or an eternity. It was like, probably an hour. 

"I got more or less buried under a man who was shot in the head next to me. And so I was underneath him. And from there nobody moved. 

"Then we heard terrorists who were shouting, Syria was in it. And then... mostly it was: "Stay down, don't move, we'll shoot you.' 

"But then they shot anyway. I was thinking to myself, is it going to be me next? That's what went through my head.”

The death toll from Friday's string of attacks rose to 129 on Saturday.

Paris's prosecutor general said 352 people are injured, with 99 of them in "absolutely critical condition".

"The investigation is only just starting."

The prosecutor warned that the death toll could rise with the high number of grave injuries.