24-04-2024 10:01 AM Jerusalem Timing

France Honors Victims of Paris Attack

France Honors Victims of Paris Attack

France on Friday will mourn the 130 people killed in the November 13 Paris attacks, with President Francois Hollande leading a solemn ceremony in honor of the victims.

France flagFrance on Friday will mourn the 130 people killed in the November 13 Paris attacks, with President Francois Hollande leading a solemn ceremony in honor of the victims.

Families of those killed in France's worst-ever terror attack, claimed by the so-called 'Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant' (ISIL) takfiri group, will join some of the wounded at ceremonies at the Invalides, the gilded 17th-century complex in central Paris that houses a military hospital and museum and Napoleon's tomb.

The tribute will be "national and republican," an official at the Elysee presidential palace said, referring to the French republic's creed of liberty, equality and fraternity.

Hollande will break from a whirlwind diplomatic bid to build a broad military coalition to defeat ISIL.

In the run up to the commemoration, Hollande called on the French to hang out the Tricolour.

"Every French citizen can take part (in the tribute) by taking the opportunity to deck their home with a blue, white and red flag, the colors of France," government spokesman Stephane Le Foll quoted Hollande as saying.

But some victims' families have said they will snub the event, accusing the government of failing to tighten security after terror attacks in January, when gunmen killed 17 people in Paris, mainly at the Charlie Hebdo satirical magazine.

As the nation mourns the victims, an international manhunt is still on for two key suspects -- Salah Abdeslam, who played a key logistical role in the wave of terror, and Mohamed Abrini, seen with Abdeslam two days before the November 13 atrocities.

France has stepped up its air strikes on ISIL targets in Syria and Iraq, and wants to create a more coordinated, concerted international effort to destroy the group.