Paris, Mar 25:
The French government decided to raise the national security alert system Vigipirate to its highest level to deal with the potential threat the country is facing after Friday’s deadly terrorist attack in Russia’s capital Moscow.
French President Emmanuel Macron convened a defense and security meeting Sunday night at the Elysee Palace in the wake of the attack in Moscow, Prime Minister Gabriel Attal said on his X account.
“In light of ISIS’s alleged attack and the threat to our country, we have decided to elevate the Vigipirate status to the highest level: attack emergency,” Attal added.
At least 137 people were killed in the terrorist attack at a concert hall in Moscow on Friday. Russian President Vladimir Putin declared March 24 a day of national mourning in a televised national address on Saturday.
France has been living under reinforced security measures since the series of terrorist attacks in January 2015, when a group of Islamists killed 17 people in Paris and its suburbs. The government responded by enacting Operation Sentinel, which saw the deployment of armed soldiers to patrol the French capital.
One of the deadliest Islamist attacks in recent memory came in November 2015, when suicide bombers and gunmen killed 130 people in Paris.
Eleven people were detained in connection with the attack, including four who were directly involved, the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) said. All four suspected shooters were detained in the Russian region of Bryansk, which borders Belarus and Ukraine, the FSB added.
The Moscow-area concert hall shooting became the deadliest attack in Russia in nearly 20 years.
