Paris attacks: Guard stopped bomber getting into stadium

A security guard at Stade de France frisked a man who turned out to be one of the bombers. Photo / Getty

• At least 129 people killed in coordinated terror attacks
• Hundreds more wounded, many seriously
• Isis claims responsibility, warns of more attacks to come
• Syrian passport found on bomber's body
• Passort owner passed through Greece in October, entering Europe
• Several people arrested in Belgium, in connection with the attacks

One of the suicide bombers who attempted to enter France's national stadium was thwarted by a security guard who frisked him and discovered his explosives vest, forcing him to detonate his vest outside the Stade de France.

The attacker attempted to enter the stadium about 15 minutes into the football friendly between France and Germany, The Wall Street Journal reports, citing a guard called Zouheir.

The guard at the gate frisked the man and discovered he was wearing an explosives vest.

Backing away from the security guard, the attacker detonated the vest loaded with explosives and bolts, according to Paris prosecutor Franois Molins.

A few minutes later, the second suicide bomber detonated his vest, followed by the third, who blew himself up at a nearby McDonald's.

A bomber detonated their device outside the McDonald's near Stade de France. Photo / Getty

One civilian died in the attacks.

The WSJ account explains why the suicide attacks on the stadium failed to cause the carnage that occurred at the Bataclan concert hall and restaurants across Paris.

Terrorists 'posed as refugees'

Two of the suicide bombers who caused carnage in the Paris massacre are thought to have sneaked into France by posing as refugees from Syria.

The disclosure, which came amid claims of French intelligence failures, inevitably raised new security concerns about Europe's borders.

Police said the two men, who arrived in Greece last month, were among seven attackers, one as young as 15.

All wearing explosive vests, they roamed across the French capital in three teams, perpetrating the "worst acts of violence" in the country since the Second World War. Fingerprint records show that two of the terrorists had arrived in the EU as refugees through Greece.

A Syrian passport found near the body of one of the gunmen who struck at the Stade de France showed the holder, who was born in 1990, had passed through the Greek island of Leros on October 3.

Police secure the area outside the Stade de France stadium. Photo / Getty

Greece's deputy minister in charge of police, Nikos Toscas, said he was "identified [as a refugee] according to EU rules" as he passed through the country, but did not know if it was checked elsewhere en route to Paris. In all, 129 people were killed in a series of co-ordinated bomb and gun attacks on Friday night. With 99 of the 352 wounded critically ill, the death toll is expected to rise.

Six of the terrorists, believed to be from Islamic State, took their own lives, while one was shot dead by police.

At least one of the men who opened fire on people in a Paris concert hall was a French native.

French newspaper Le Monde has identified him as Ismael Omar Mostefai, 29, who was born in a Parisian suburb.

He is believed to have been one of three men who got out of a black Polo and stormed Bataclan.

Armed police stand guard overlooking the Eiffel Tower which was kept dark in honor of those who died in the terrorist attacks yesterday. Photo / Getty

Armed with guns and dressed with explosive vests they released fire on the concert goers, killing at least 89.

He was identified via a severed fingertip.

Le Monde reported he was well known to police - having been charged for various offences including driving without a license and suspected of local drug trafficking.

Though he'd managed to avoid imprisonment.

French prosecutor François Molins said he was also known to French intelligence services for being associated with Radical Islam.

A vigil is held in London's Trafalgar Square. Photo / Getty

However, he was never implicated or associated with a terrorist organisation.

Le Monde reported the Frenchman, with Algerian heritage, had spent time in Syria in the winter of 2013 to 2014, having entered there via Turkey - the preferred avenue into Syria.

Investigators were also searching the homes of friends and relatives of the Frenchman on Saturday.

The father's house is located in the small town of Romilly-sur-Seine, about 130km east of Paris, while his brother's is south of Paris in the Essonne region.

The brother, who is 34, contacted the police on his own initiative and was then taken into custody.

Details of two of the seven suicide bombers were indicate they have sneaked into France, via Greece, as refugees from Syria.

With much of Europe on high alert yesterday, a Frenchman caused chaos at Gatwick Airport after producing what appeared to be a gun at an easyJet check-in desk. Hundreds of passengers were evacuated after the 41-year-old man fled and threw the "firearm" into a rubbish bin at the North Terminal following a row with staff.

Armed police rushed to restrain the man and were said to have shouted "get down, get down" to nearby travellers.

Brussels arrests

In Belgium, authorities arrested several suspects after a car seen near one of the murder scenes was intercepted crossing the border.

Federal prosecutors in Brussels confirmed that a car with Belgian number plates had been seen close to the Bataclan theatre, scene of the worst bloodshed.

Spokesman Jean-Pascal Thoreau confirmed that the car was a rental vehicle. He said that three people were arrested in the car.

A rose is pictured in a bullet hole in a window, rue de Charonne, in Paris. Photo / Getty Images

Following the arrests, police launched several raids in the St Jans Molenbeek neighbourhood of Brussels, where several other arrests were made.

Molenbeek is home to a large community of immigrants from Morocco and Turkey.

A Belgian anti-terrorism judge took up the case because two of the people killed in Paris were Belgians, the office said in a statement.

A spokesman said: "The investigation is opened into a charge of terrorism and participation in the activities of a terrorist group.

"Several arrests were carried out at the end of the afternoon. The operations are still underway in the Molenbeek neighbourhood."

"The Islamic State will not last long"

Leaders of Hizbollah, Hamas and Islamic Jihad have all issued statements denouncing the terror attacks in Paris.

Condemning what he called "blind terrorism", Hizbollah secretary-general Seyyed Hassan Nasrallah said in a televised speech that "our people in this region know very well this terrorism the Islamic State has carried out in the French capital.

"The Islamic State will not last long...they know that they will not last," Nasrallah said, pointing to recent losses suffered by Isis in Syria and Iraq.

Noting the recent double suicide attack that killed 43 in a Hizbollah stronghold in Beirut's southern suburbs, Nasrallah stressed such attacks will only increase the organisation's determination to fight the jihadist movement in Syria.

Hizbollah has assisted Syria President Bashar al-Assad in that country's civil war.

In Gaza, Hamas official Bassem Na'eem said in an emailed statement that Hamas "strongly condemned the series of attacks and hostile actions that were carried out in Paris".

"We pay our deep condolences to the families of the victims and we wish to France safety and security," Na'eem said.

Meanwhile, Nafez Azzam, a senior Islamic Jihad official also condemned the attacks and told reporters that "I don't think Islam is allowing this haphazard and arbitrary killing."

Hamas and Islamic Jihad were responsible for carrying out a series of suicide bombings that killed hundreds of Israelis in the past.

Isis warns of more to come

Isis has claimed responsibility for the terror attacks and warned that more will follow.

A statement released by the extremist group said it masterminded the horrifying attacks on the French capital in revenge for "insulting" the prophet Muhammad.

The terror group singled out France for its involvement in the bombing campaign against Isis territory in Iraq and Syria and said it murdered French citizens because the nation 'boasted' about its military contribution.

French President Francois Hollande also said Isis were behind the attacks, which he called "an act of war".

The statement, released as horror continued to mount at the slew of killings, said the bombing attack on the Stade de France was aimed specifically at Hollande.

It said an attack at the Bataclan Theatre, during a rock concert, was aimed at "idolaters" who were "together in a party of perversity" and said the French are Isis' "principal targets".

Belgian Police arrest a suspect in the Molenbeek district of brussels 14 November 2015. He is thought to be linked to the coordinated terrorist attacks in Paris.

The statement, in French and Arabic, condemned France, saying they are at risk "as long as they dare to insult our Prophet, and as long as they boast about their war against Islam in France and their strikes against Muslims in the lands of the Caliphate with their jets, which were of no avail to them in the filthy streets and alleys of Paris".

Explaining its targets, the statement said: "Eight brothers equipped with explosive belts and assault rifles attacked precisely chosen targets in the centre of the capital of France.

"These targets included the Stade de France stadium during a soccer match - between the teams of Germany and France, both of which are crusader nations - attended by the imbecile of France (Francois Hollande).

"The targets included the Bataclan theatre for exhibitions, where hundreds of idolaters gathered for a concert of prostitution and vice. There were also simultaneous attacks in the tenth, eleventh and eighteenth districts, and elsewhere. Paris was thereby shaken beneath the crusaders' feet, who were constricted by its streets."

Isis claimed 200 people died in the attacks, though official estimates have so far given a lower total.

The claim - which appeared to be authentic - came after Hollande declared the attacks "an act of war" and promised to respond.

- Daily Mail with AAP