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 the Islamic State group.

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.

Police are hunting for potential accomplices to eight attackers who were killed as at least six sites 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.