ISIS claimed responsibility on Saturday for the coordinated terrorist attacks across Paris on Friday. The deadly assaults killed at least 128 people and wounded 180, according to Paris Police Prefecture.
In an online statement distributed through supporters, the terror group known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant identified the eight perpetrators of Friday’s attacks as its own militants, describing them wearing explosive belts and armed with machine guns while carrying out the deadly attacks.
“Eight brothers carrying explosive belts and guns targeted areas in the heart of the French capital that were specifically chosen in advance,” the statement began.
“The Stade de France during a match against Germany, which that imbecile Francois Hollande was attending; the Bataclan where hundreds of idolaters were together in a party of perversity as well as other targets in the 10th, 11th and 18th arrondissement.”
The statement cited insults to the Prophet Muhammad and recent French airstrikes on ISIS targets as the reason for the attacks and called the perpetrators “soldiers of Caliphate” who targeted the “capital of abomination and perversion.”
In a televised address on Saturday, President Francois Hollande identified ISIS as the terror group responsible for the acts, which he termed an “act of war,” and vowed to respond with all of France’s might.
“When the terrorists are capable of doing such acts, they must know that they will face a France very determined,” he said.
The ISIS statement concluded: “This attack is just the start of a storm and a warning for those who wish to draw lessons.”
The declaration of responsibility has pivoted TV news and digital coverage on Saturday to the ongoing battle of Western nations against ISIS and its increasing willingness to attack civilian targets outside its Middle Eastern base.