Beginning at 21:16, three suicide bombers struck outside the Stade de France in Saint-Denis, during an international football match, after failing to gain entry to the stadium.

A third group carried out another mass shooting and took hostages at an Eagles of Death Metal concert attended by 1,500 people in the Bataclan theatre, leading to a stand-off with police.

[65] Three explosions occurred near the country's national sports stadium, the Stade de France, in the suburb of Saint-Denis, resulting in four deaths, including the three suicide bombers.

[77] Two of the explosions were heard on the live televised broadcast of the match;[note 1] both football coaches were informed by French officials of a developing crisis, but players and fans were kept unaware of it until the game had finished.

The three Belgian-Moroccan attackers, including ringleader Abdelhamid Abaaoud, Brahim Abdeslam and Chakib Akrouh emerged from a rental SEAT León before killing the driver of a car in front of them and then proceeding to shoot at people outside Le Carillon, a café and bar.

Over the next 50 minutes, they had four phone exchanges with a police negotiator, during which they threatened to execute hostages unless they received a signed paper promising France's departure from Muslim lands.

[28] Claimed motives were an ideological objection to Paris as a capital of abomination and perversion,[111] retaliation for airstrikes on ISIL in Syria and Iraq,[13] and the foreign policy of Hollande in relation to Muslims worldwide.

[122][123][124] Most of the Paris attackers were French and Belgian born citizens of Moroccan and Algerian backgrounds who crossed borders without difficulty, albeit registered as terrorism suspects.

[34] On 30 August 2016, jihadist Abu Mohammad al-Adnani was killed by an American missile and DGSI declared that his death ended the terrorist who had supervised the attacks on Brussels and Paris.

[135] Links to the attacks were investigated in an arrest in Germany on 5 November, when police stopped a 51-year-old man from Montenegro and found automatic handguns, hand grenades and explosives in his car.

[144] On 24 November, five people in Belgium were charged on suspicion of their involvement in the Paris attacks, and Belgian prosecutors issued an arrest warrant for Mohamed Abrini, a 30-year-old suspected accomplice of Salah Abdeslam.

[150] Jawad Bendaoud was arrested 18 November 2015 for "criminal terrorist association for the purpose of committing violent action", as he provided lodging for Abaaoud, Hasna Aït Boulahcen, and a third man.

[154][155][156] Mumbai Police Joint Commissioner (Law and Order) Deven Bharti pointed out the similarities as having several targets, shooting indiscriminately, and the use of improvised explosive devices.

[179] Among those who died at the Bataclan were a music critic of Les Inrockuptibles,[180] an executive of Mercury Records France, and the merchandise manager of Eagles of Death Metal, the band that was performing.

[189] In January 2022, an orthopaedic surgeon at the Georges Pompidou hospital was sued and faces possible misconduct charges after using a survivor's X-ray as a NFT (non-fungible token), without consulting her prior.

[193] On 15 November, two days after the attacks, a memorial service was held at Notre Dame Cathedral, presided over by the Archbishop of Paris, Cardinal André Vingt-Trois, with several political and religious figures in attendance.

[207] On 16 November, Hollande convened a special Congress of the French Parliament to address the attack and lay out legislative and diplomatic plans he wanted to take in response to them.

These proposals included an extension of the state of emergency for three months, changes to the French constitution, one of which would have enabled France to protect itself from dual citizens who might pose a risk, and an increase in military attacks against ISIL.

[209][210] In July 2016, the French government published the report of a commission of inquiry, presided over by Georges Fenech, into possible security failings relating to the 2015 terrorist attacks in Paris.

[214] On 18 November 2015, French aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle left its home port of Toulon heading towards the eastern Mediterranean to support bombing operations carried out by the international coalition.

[231] Meeting reports indicated that Schengen area border controls have been tightened for EU citizens entering or leaving, with passport checks[232] and systematic screening against biometric databases.

[76] Adam Schiff, the ranking Democratic member of the United States House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, said he did not know of any intercepted communications that would have provided warning of the attacks.

[245] On 8 March 2021, Italian police arrested a 36-year-old Algerian man on suspicion of helping authors of the Paris attacks and for belonging to the Islamic State group.

[246] In response to the attacks, France was put under an état d'urgence (state of emergency) for the first time since the 2005 riots,[27] borders were temporarily closed, and 1,500 soldiers were called in to help the police maintain order in Paris.

[27] On 20 November, the Senate in France agreed to extend the current state of emergency by three months; this measure gave police extra powers of detention and arrest intended to increase security, at the expense of some personal liberties.

[280] These included the imam who heads the university of Al-Azhar in Egypt; the Supreme council of Religious Scholars in Saudi Arabia;[281] Iranian president Hassan Rouhani[282] and the Ahmadiyya caliph Mirza Masroor Ahmad.

[290] German authorities refused to give more details on findings, with Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere claiming that "some of these answers would alarm the public.

[291][292] Later the same evening, two Air France flights headed from the United States to Paris were diverted to Salt Lake City, Utah[293] and Halifax, Nova Scotia because of bomb threats.

[303][304][305] On 27 April 2016, American rock band Pierce the Veil released a song titled "Circles", inspired by the November 2015 Paris terrorist attacks.

[307] On 5 October 2022, the French film November was released, directed by Cédric Jimenez and starring Jean Dujardin, that depicts the investigations and the interventions of the police (in particular of the anti-terrorist sub-directorate) during the five days which followed the attacks.