Updated at 7.17am
OVER 80 PEOPLE have been killed in an attack on a concert venue in Paris, on a night of terror in the French capital that left at least 120 people dead.
Police stormed the Bataclan theatre at about midnight.
One of the best-known popular music venues in Paris, the venue attracts a range of bands, and was set to host California-based band Eagles of Death Metal.
The attackers first sprayed cafes outside the concert hall with machine gunfire, then went inside and opened fire on the panicked audience, according to the Paris police chief.
As police closed in, they detonated suicide vests, killing themselves and setting off explosions.
The band’s management tweeted that they were still trying to establish the safety of their members and crew, but it was later confirmed band members had escaped the venue.
Reuters, quoting a Paris city hall official, said that at least 87 people attending the concert had been killed.
Dozens of shocked survivors were rescued from the scene of the onslaught.
The motives of the gunmen were not immediately confirmed, but one witness at the Bataclan said one of the attackers appeared to express support for Islamic State.
“It’s Hollande’s fault, he shouldn’t have intervened in Syria!” the man shouted, according to France-based news agency AFP, referring to the country’s involvement in air-strikes on Isis territory.
Band okay
The Washington Post interviewed Mary Lou Dorio, mother of one member of the band, who said her son and the other members of the group escaped the concert hall as the attack began.
“It was awful,” she told The Post, adding that her son, drummer Julian Dorio, had been able to phone his wife from a local police station after the ordeal.
The fate of several crew members for the band remains unknown, Dorio said.
The neighborhood around the concert hall, like many of the sites targeted, is known for a vibrant nightlife. The club is on Boulevard Voltaire, in a trendy neighborhood at the intersection of the 10th, 11th and 3rd arrondissements.
The Eagles of Death Metal played the Olympia in Dublin on Monday night.
With reporting from Associated Press, AFP and Daragh Brophy.
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