21/11/2015 Reporters

attack on a hotel in Bamako. Now for a special edition of

reporters. Hello, and welcome to this

special edition of Reporters. I'm Christian Fraser,

here in the Place de la Republique Following the shocking events last

week in the French capital, we have a range of reports from

our global network of correspondents as the country responds to

the worst attacks on French soil Katya Adler reports on

the night Paris came under siege. TRANSLATION: We all lay down,

the whole room lay down. I was under other people

and they kept shooting. We heard the shots, people

screaming, as though tortured. Fears of a Muslim backlash,

Gavin Hewitt investigates the impact People struggle to explain why young

men would come down here and just The Belgian connection -

Ian Pannell visits Molenbeek, the Brussels district where several

of the attackers lived, If you were able to speak to Salah

now, what would you say? TRANSLATION: I would ask him

to surrender, to give an explanation, I would

tell him the whole family is sad. One jihadist in a million migrants -

Gabriel Gatehouse traces the route of the Paris bomber who

entered Europe as a Syrian refugee. Quentin Somerville asks why IS have

brought their jihad from The Islamic State is under pressure

and that may mean that increasingly,

the group will focus its attacks outside of its home territory, here,

in the Middle East. Jayne McCubbin joins English

and French football fans They are the worst attacks on

French soil since Last week's terror attacks ripped

through the heart of Paris when its guard was down, as

people enjoyed a Friday night out, President Hollande said the bombings

were a declaration of war by the so-called Islamic State and has

placed the city under a state of Katya Adler reports on the night

that Paris came under attack. Her report does contain

some distressing images. This is how a regular Friday night

in Paris at a football match, a rock concert and round the corner

at the local restaurant... It all started just after nine

in the evening. Chanting crowds here at the France

versus Germany friendly had no clue Then a second, and a third,

blowing themselves up The French President, watching

the game was ushered away. Dazed, frightened fans lingered

at first, too scared to leave. In the space of a few hours,

scores of people were killed in central Paris in a series

of coordinated attacks. This became a city of panic,

as everyone wondered Suddenly, news spread that

revellers at a rock concert here in the popular Bataclan

Theatre had been taken hostage. Some concertgoers managed to

escape onto the streets. This mobile phone footage

shows their utter desperation. This girl tries to escape

the bloodshed inside but around 80 innocent

people had already been killed. TRANSLATION: We were piled up

on each other. We heard the shots, people

screaming, as though tortured. TRANSLATION: I saw two young men

no older than 25 with Kalashnikovs. There was one that kept

gesturing for us to get down. We all lay down,

the whole room lay down. I was under other people

and they kept shooting. Meanwhile, not far away,

associates of those gunmen continued the killing spree in a number

of Parisian restaurants. Murdered while eating

their evening meal. On a normal Friday night it is hard

to find a hipper, happier, more buzzing pocket

of Paris than these streets, filled The attackers did not

target glitzy Paris. With these shootings

and the first suicide bombings on French soil, they want to make

everyone feel afraid and exposed. The former owner of Bell Equipe

restaurant, where 18 people were "The people I sold this restaurant

to are like family. Seven of them were killed

in the attack. In this neighbourhood,

all of us are like family. Faced with an act of war,

the country needs to take An act of war

which has been committed by a terrorist organisation, IS,

a jihadist army against France. An act of war,

which has been planned, organised, prepared from the outside and with

accomplices from the inside, which France has declared a state

of emergency. Security is tight,

with thousands of extra troops in airports, along French borders

and across the country. Fear is everywhere in and

around France, with the investigation pointing to

links in Belgium and beyond. Iconic buildings the world over

sent a clear message of solidarity as France mourns

and prepares to bury its dead. So, what does this mean for the

future of France and its relations Community leaders here

in Paris have said they now fear The country is home to

around five million Muslims. Many of them live in the suburbs

of Paris. Gavin Hewitt has been speaking to

some of them and finding out the impact

of the attacks on French society. France has the largest Muslim

population in Europe. But in the past year, there have

been a series of attacks, like on the satirical magazine Charlie

Hebdo, carried out by extremists. Some of them grew up

in the vast estates on the anonymous Ten years ago,

I watched the angry suburbs rebel. It prompted new efforts

of integration, but always, like a new French law to ban

the niqab, a face veil. Back then I met 26-year-old Anisa,

outraged at The uncomfortable truth is that

there are, today, willing recruits for a more radical, violent Islamist

ideology and Muslims were reacting TRANSLATION: Muslims in France

are disgusted by this. Do you think we like

being pointed at? Everywhere we go,

people give us a bad look. These days, when we go for jobs,

they do not accept us. From conversations here, it is clear

that some young people do feel isolated from French secular society

and that some do have a sense of grievance about French foreign

policy, particularly in the Middle East, but people struggle to explain

why young men would come down here and just open fire

at people having a meal. In this restaurant,

Safer helped save the lives of two TRANSLATION: After a spray of

bullets, I ran and took the girls who were

bleeding down into the basement. But why any of this took place,

I have no idea. Earlier this year,

President Hollande and Europe's leaders linked arms

in defiance against violence, but it has proved easy for extremists to

paint President Hollande's interventions in the Middle East

as part of a crusader campaign. 2,000 French Muslims are thought

to have joined the war in Syria. In France,

there are deep political divisions. The far-right led by Marine Le Pen

continues to poll strongly, and already, questions are being

asked as to whether any of the suspects travelled with

the recent groups of refugees. After the Charlie Hebdo killings,

France came together, hoping unity would defeat the extremists.

It did not work out that way. Well, the attacks highlighted the

failures of the French intelligence services and it's prompted a huge

international police operation to catch the attackers still

on the run. Part of that operation is focused

on Belgium - in particular, the district of Molenbeek,

in Brussels, called by some Several of the attackers have lived

there, including Abdelhamid Abaaoud, Ian Pannell reports now

on the Belgian connection This neighbourhood has become

notorious for links to terrorism, home to at least three militants

involved in the Paris attacks. But residents reclaimed

the streets to cast a message of peace and solidarity

with victims of terrorism. And overlooking the scene,

high on a balcony, were relatives of One member of the Abdeslam family

spoke exclusively to the BBC. He does not want to be

identified because he is worried But he is a close relative

of Brahim, who died in Paris, and his brother, Salah,

who is a key suspect of the Paris If you were able to speak to Salah

now, what would you say? TRANSLATION: I would ask him

to surrender, to give an explanation, I would

tell him the whole family is sad. We really hope he surrenders

before the police kill him Both brothers were friends with

Abdelhamid Abaaoud, a leading Islamic State fighter,

also from Belgium. He is accused

of organising the Paris attacks. Back in Molenbeek, we met Farid,

a neighbour and shopkeeper who knew the alleged

ringleader, Abdelhamid Abaaoud. TRANSLATION: The only change

that was visible was that he started to grow a beard

and he would go out less. But I knew him as

a hard-working shop owner until one Six days of mourning and prayers,

but doubts and fear linger about what may still come to pass,

and questions persist about how to stop young men from

places like Molenbeek embracing The news that the attacker who blew

himself up at the Stade de France entered Europe as a refugee last

month has huge implications Ahmed Almohamed was identified

by fingerprints and passport details, found at the scene,

matching those of a man who arrived Gabriel Gatehouse has been tracing

his route We are heading to Medicine Island,

a lump of scrub and rock But for those who dump their

lifejackets here, this represents salvation, the entry point to

Europe. They come in their thousands,

fleeing violence at home. But now it seems one of them

has brought the war with them. Well, it was on this rocky outcrop,

we understand, that someone with a passport

in the name of Ahmed Almohamed The passport may have been a fake,

but we do know that one of the Paris attackers gained entry to the EU

posing as a Syrian refugee - that is an earthquake for a continent in the

midst of a migration crisis and for the people who continue

to arrive every day. Because of the heavy war

in my country. We may not know the true identity of

the man named as Ahmed Almohamed. But

his journey has injected fresh angst The Coast Guard brought

Ahmed Almohamed to Leros. There, passengers go through

a process of registration, Greek and EU officials take

fingerprints and photographs and ask I have spoken to

an official who has said that he remembers Ahmed Almohamed

from his registration here. He has told me that he arrived

on a boat with 70 or 80 other Syrians and immediately something

did not feel quite right about him. He said that he kept himself to

himself. He told me he would have highlighted

his concerns to an intelligence More than 500,000 refugees

and migrants have entered Europe Border forces across the continent

are ill-equipped to conduct On a small island like Leros,

they are simply not capable Many refugees in the last year have

passed through Leros, We think all the time, maybe some

of them are not really refugees. The police have told us they were

not authorised to give interviews but one officer spoke to us

off camera. He said specially-trained experts

at key border crossings can help It requires resources, he told me,

but if we wanted a safe Europe, The Paris bomber appears to have

travelled across Europe From Leros, a man with a passport

in the name of Ahmed Almohamed takes Serbia registers

the same name entering On 8th October he turns up

in a refugee camp in Croatia before crossing into Hungary,

believed to be heading for Austria. Until last Friday,

when he detonated a suicide vest On Leros, the never-ending stream

of migrants continues unabated. Ahmed Almohamed may have been only

one jihadist in a million refugees,

but this crisis is an issue that is testing the very bonds that hold

Europe together, and that question So, why have Islamic State brought

their jihad or holy war Some experts are saying it is

because the group is losing the battle in Iraq and Syria,

after months of attacks led by the United States and strongly

supported, of course, by France. Quentin Somerville looks

at the increasingly global threat Kurdish forces taking back the town

of Sinjar and in Iraq, the so-called They fled from here but not before

they had torn the town apart. We still do not know how many

died under their year-long rule. But it is not the only place

where they are in retreat. In Syria, the Kurds and others with

US air power have taken back miles On its home ground,

the Islamic State is faltering. But further afield,

it is bringing pain and terror. In Beirut,

they are burying their loved ones More than 40 people were killed in

a busy shopping street on Thursday. Lebanon is in grief, it is one

of the bloodiest attacks in years. And in Egypt too, fresh tactics

and fresh horror from Islamic State bombers who may have brought

down a Russian passenger plane. The United States and Russia stood

side-by-side in condemning IS We are witnessing a kind

of mediaeval and modern fascism It has no regard for life

and it seeks to destroy and create chaos and disorder and fear, and

the one thing we can say to those people is that what they do in this

is stiffen our resolve, all of us. Here in Iraq,

the Islamic State behaves like an army, it captures towns and villages

and sends men onto the battlefield. But in Sinjar and over the border

into Syria, it has tasted defeat. It is far from beaten but the

Islamic State is under pressure and That increasingly, the group will

focus its attacks outside of its home territory, here,

in the Middle East. In Iraq and Syria,

the offensives against IS continue, The front lines

in this war are now closer to home. Quentin Somerville, BBC News,

Sinjar, in northern Iraq. Despite the shock and horror over

what took place here in Paris, there were many moments this week

of defiance and solidarity. The English and French football

fans united as their national teams The stadium in London was

filled with the sound of 70,000 This was the welcome Wembley gave

to France, a national stadium seen with new eyes, a sport

seen with new significance. They had been given the option

to pull out, but refused. Outside, fans told me time and again

this night, these tickets, were We are fighting for freedom,

you know? We still have his war medals, so,

absolutely. We could have been them,

we could have been in Paris, any one We are here

because everyone needs to be here, they need to come out and show that

nothing is going to stop us. There was high-security, yes,

but fear? "We have come from Paris",

they shouted. Before they are joined by English

fans, Alexia and her friends told me they

would not be bowed by the terrorists, even though they

had taken the life of their friend It is about standing altogether,

not just France, but England as well, together, and,

yeah, just show them that we want We cannot wait to sing

La Marseillaise. Has

a visiting team's anthem been sung The cousin of Lassana Diarra was

also killed in the attacks, this was a moment to reflect, to

take comfort in 70,000 voices united And after the anthem,

and the applause... We thank you

for showing your support. If we did not come, it would say

that we are scared of terrorism. By coming,

we show that we are brave. It was a night that sent out

a clear message that life, this way We end tonight with some words

from Antoine Leiris. He lost his wife at the

Bataclan Theatre. He has written an open letter to his

killers. He says he will never forget her but he handed little boy

will not live afraid. -- he and his little boy.

On Friday night you stole the life of an exceptional being, the love

of my life, the mother of my son, but you won't have my hatred.

I don't know who you are and I don't want to know - you are dead souls.

If the God for which you kill so blindly made us

in his own image, every bullet in the body of my wife will have

Therefore I don't give you the gift of hating you.

Responding to hatred with anger would be giving

in to the same ignorance that made you what you are.

You want me to be afraid, to view my fellow countrymen with

mistrust, to sacrifice my freedom for security.

She was just as beautiful as when she left on Friday night, just as

beautiful as when I fell hopelessly in love over 12 years ago.

Of course I'm devastated with grief, I admit this small victory,

I know she will join us every day and that we will find ourselves

in a paradise of free souls to which you'll never have access.

The moving words of Antoine Leiris who probably sums up the thoughts

and feelings of many who lost loved ones in last week's attacks. That is

all for this week's Reporters. Goodbye for now.

We will leave you with some of the images of the week when Paris came

under attack. I saw two young men no older than 25

with Kalashnikovs. They can do this again and again,

but we will be here,