The terrorist attacks in Paris last night devastated both France and the international community, but they might have been even worse. According to the Wall Street Journal, one of the suicide bombers had a ticket to last night's Germany vs. France soccer game at the Stade de France. The stadium is a cultural landmark and seats 80,000, one of whom was French president François Hollande.
According to one of the security guards at the stadium who wished to go by his first name, Zouheir, the attacker was frisked at the stadium entrance about 15 minutes into the game. He was barred from entering the stadium when guards discovered he was wearing a vest filled with explosives. After being denied entrance, the attacker reportedly backed away from security and detonated his vest. Hollande was quickly evacuated after the first explosion echoed through the stadium.
A police officer told the Wall Street Journal that the thwarted bomber had likely intended to start a stampede by blowing himself up inside the stadium. The crowd at the game would've panicked and streamed toward the exit... straight into the path of a second suicide bomber. If the terrorist's plans had succeeded, the death toll at Stade de France would've been much closer to that at the Bataclan concert hall, where gunmen executed hundreds. Instead, only one civilian was killed when both suicide bombers detonated their explosive vests outside the stadium.
French officials are conducting an ongoing investigation into the attacks, but earlier today Belgian police reported that they'd arrested several people who rented a vehicle seen near the Stade de France last night. Belgium's Minister of Justice Koen Geens said the car had Belgian license plates and that more than one arrest was made, but he declined to give further details.
