Islamic State has claimed responsibility for the Paris attacks, as French President Francois Hollande pledged a “pitiless” response to terrorism.
IS made the claim in an online statement as Mr Hollande vowed to strike back after the worst attacks in France since the Second World War
Mr Hollande said after an emergency security meeting that the death toll in Paris had risen to 127 in a string of near-simultaneous attacks which he said were an “act of war” orchestrated by IS.
He declared three days of national mourning and put the nation’s security at its highest level after the assault on a concert hall, sports stadium and cafes.
Mr Hollande has also declared a state of emergency – the first such move in a decade – and ordered 1,500 additional troops to be deployed to guard official buildings and religious sites, while controls have been re-imposed at the country’s borders.
He said the attacks were “committed by a terrorist army, the Islamic State group, a jihadist army, against France, against the values that we defend everywhere in the world, against what we are: a free country that means something to the whole planet”.
Mr Hollande added that France “will be merciless toward the barbarians of Islamic State group”, and “will act by all means anywhere, inside or outside the country”.
France is already bombing IS targets in Syria and Iraq as part of the US-led coalition, and has troops fighting extremists in Africa.
Police are hunting for potential accomplices to eight attackers who were killed as at least six sites in Paris were attacked in rapid succession.
Three suicide bombs targeted spots around the national stadium Stade de France, north of the capital, where Mr Hollande was watching a football friendly between France and Germany.
Around the same time, fusillades of bullets were fired in a trendy Paris neighbourhood as gunmen targeted a string of popular cafes, crowded on an unusually balmy November night.
The attackers next stormed a concert hall, the Bataclan, hosting US rock band Eagles of Death Metal, opened fire on the panicked audience and took people hostage. As police closed in, three of them detonated explosive belts, killing themselves and hostages, according to Paris police chief Michel Cadot.
Another attacker detonated a suicide bomb on Boulevard Voltaire, near the music hall, the prosecutor’s office said.
The IS claim was made in a statement in Arabic and French released online and circulated by supporters of the group.
It was not immediately possible to confirm the authenticity of the statement, but it bore the group’s logo and resembled previous statements.