My baby held on as bomb went off upstairs

Families tell of hell trapped in Paris siege 

A MUM last night told how her terrified baby clung onto her when a jihadi suicide bomber blew herself up as cops stormed the flat above them.

Swoop ... suspect is pinned to ground by gun cops in Saint-Denis

The woman cowered on the floor cradling her child as Hasna Aitboulahcen detonated her bomb, sending rubble crashing down all around.
The mum, who gave her name as Sabine, said: “I was woken at about four in the morning by gunfire and lay down on the floor with my baby. It was awful.

“I heard the explosions, dozens of gun shots. My ceiling began to collapse, there was dust everywhere.

“My baby was gripping onto me when he heard the guns go off. It was never-ending. I stayed on the floor for two-and-a-half hours.

“The stairwell was destroyed, the building is wrecked. It was like a war zone.”

Escape ... mum with tot flees

Kamel Khemissi, 60, and his family were asleep in a property just 40ft from the 12-flat, four-storey block in the Paris suburb of Saint-Denis when all hell broke loose yesterday.

Council sports hall worker Mr Khemissi said: “It was like being caught in the middle of a battlefield. The sound of the gunfire was so intense I couldn’t hear screams.


“It lasted well over an hour. The whole of the building was shaking.

“We saw the police were at the bottom of the building then we saw lasers from their gunsights and got away from the window.

“The officers all had balaclavas on and were aiming at someone, then we heard them shouting, ‘Put your hands in the air!’

“We turned off all the lights and crawled to the bathroom, then called my son. He said he could hear the gun battle in the background. It was deafening.
“Then there was a massive series of explosions.
“It seemed like about 20 which sounded like grenades. We know we are lucky to be alive.”

Mr Khemissi was trapped with his wife Kahina, 59, for more than six hours before police finally gave them the all-clear to leave.
Builder Stetiu Catalin, 26, was in an apartment two floors below the siege with his wife Roxanna, 21, their son David, 18 months, mother Michela, 47, and father Yoan, 50.
He said: “It was like Syria had come to France.

“I thought that apartment was empty but I’d been hearing noises there over the past few days, then suddenly everyone started shooting. It lasted an hour and 15 minutes and we were too terrified to move.

“I was lying on the floor being deafened by constant gunfire and explosions then there was an enormous boom followed by a flash of white and yellow flames.

“I thought I was going to be blown up, shot or burned alive. It was very scary and unbelievable having this war next to my front door.

“There were hundreds and hundreds of shots and one big explosion followed by lots of small ones.
“Police were screaming, ‘Get down on the floor! Get down on the floor!’, then told us to get out and were guarding the stairs as we ran out.”
A dustman called Karim was on his way to an early shift when he walked straight into the gunfight.