The British Government deployed special forces troops to monitor transport stations, shopping centres and key public places amid fears the UK could be the next Isis target, as counter-terrorism sources revealed up to 450 radicalised Britons have returned to Britain from Syria.
Prime Minister John Key, who is in Vietnam for bilateral talks, confirmed that no New Zealanders had been hurt or killed in the attacks.
At least 300 New Zealand travellers were registered as being in the city at the time. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has told New Zealanders not to travel to Paris unless on urgent business.
In New Zealand, the domestic terror threat level remained unchanged at "low".
A public memorial is being planned in Wellington, possibly to be held tomorrow in Civic Square.
One of the suicide bombers tried to enter the Stade de France during a football match between France and Germany but was prevented by a security guard who frisked him and found an explosives vest, the
Wall St Journal
reported.
The man backed away from the guard and detonated the explosives. Two other suicide bombers then detonated their explosives nearby. One civilian was injured.
A woman who survived the massacre inside the Bataclan Theatre described playing dead for up to an hour as the gunmen circled "like vultures" shooting anyone who moved.
In a harrowing Facebook post accompanied by an image of her blood-smeared shirt, 22-year-old Isobel Bowdery described how she held her breath and thought about her loved ones as she lay among the dead and dying.
"Dozens of people were shot right in front of me. Pools of blood filled the floor. Cries of grown men who held their girlfriends' dead bodies pierced the small music venue.
"Shocked and alone, I pretended to be dead for over an hour, lying among people who could see their loved ones motionless."
Video footage taken by a Le Monde journalist near the theatre showed concert-goers fleeing from emergency exits, some dragging wounded people. Others climbed out of the theatre's windows as gunshots rang out. A pregnant woman hung from a window ledge by her fingertips and called for help.
French police said there were seven attackers, one as young as 15. They worked in three teams across the city and carried out co-ordinated attacks. Several suspects were arrested in Belgium after a car seen near the Bataclan theatre was intercepted crossing the border.
Police then launched raids in the Molenbeek area of Brussels, a neighbourhood known for jihadi activity, and several more were arrested.
Isis claimed responsibility for the attacks and warned that more would follow.
It said France was singled out for insulting the Prophet Muhammad and for its bombing campaigns against Isis in Iraq and Syria.
Two of the suicide bombers were thought to have sneaked into France by posing as asylum seekers, raising concerns about French intelligence and the influx of migrants across Europe's border. The two men were believed to have entered the European Union through Greece last month, but Athens denied the claim yesterday.
New Zealand is taking 600 additional Syrian refugees and ministers said that would not change.
Acting Foreign Minister Chris Finlayson said yesterday that the vetting of these refugees was very strict and the Government had the power to reject anyone if it believed they posed a security risk.
Mr Finlayson said he hoped New Zealanders would show the same welcome to the Syrian group as it had to Polish and Vietnamese refugees in the past. But he feared an international backlash in the wake of the Paris attacks.
One of the gunmen who opened fire at the Bataclan theatre has been confirmed as a French national. Omar Ismail Mostefai, 29, was identified by his severed finger, which was found among the rubble after he blew himself up. He was known to police as a petty criminal.
His father and 34-year-old brother were placed in custody yesterday and their homes searched.
"It's a crazy thing, it's madness," his brother said, his voice trembling, before he was taken into custody. "I was in Paris and I saw how this shit went down."
