TERRORISM// A series of coordinated terrorist attacks occurred in Paris and its northern suburb, Saint-Denis, on the night of November 13, 2015. Gunmen attacked a number of restaurants, two suicide bombers and a bomb detonated near the Stade de France, and gunmen wearing suicide belts killed 89 at the Bataclan theatre during an Eagles of Death Metal gig. At least 128 people were killed in the Paris and Saint-Denis shootings and bombings, French officials said. It came 10 months after the attack on Charlie Hebdo magazine, which left 12 dead, and the siege at a Jewish supermarket, which had claimed four victims. These attacks were the deadliest on France since World War II, and the deadliest in the European Union since the Madrid train bombings in 2004.

The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) claimed responsibility for the attacks, saying it was in retaliation for the French airstrikes on ISIL targets in Syria and Iraq. The President of France, François Hollande said the attacks were an act of war by ISIL , planned in Syria, organised in Belgium, and perpetrated with French complicity. In response, a state of emergency was declared, and temporary border checks were introduced. France immediately launched the biggest airstrike of Opération Chammal, its contribution to the anti-ISIL bombing campaign, striking ISIL targets in Al-Raqqah. A few days later, the suspected lead operative of the attacks, Abdelhamid Abaaoud, was killed in a police raid in Saint- Denis, along with at least two other people.