Reports in the Wall Street Journal are suggesting that the suicide bomber at Stade De France last night was refused entry to the grounds by a security guard.
The guard states that the bomber had a ticket to the game but was found to be wearing explosives when was frisked at the entrance around 15 minutes into the match.
The Wall Street Journal write:
While attempting to back away from security, Zouheir [the security guard] said, the attacker detonated the vest. Zouheir, who was stationed by the players’ tunnel, said he was briefed on the sequence by the security frisking team at the gate.
Three minutes later, another bomber blew himself up outside the stadium, before a third set off explosives at a McDonalds not far from the ground, according to police.
Meanwhile Sam Borden has an excellent piece on the New York Times, which sadly makes for terrible reading, as he explains the confusion and behind-the-scenes happenings last night during France's friendly with Germany.
Borden reveals that the managers of the two sides were informed before half-time that violence had broken out in the city and were left with the impossible dilemma of whether they should inform the players or not. Both decided against doing so (unaware of the true extent of the violence) but as the final whistle went and players left the pitch, they immediately noticed the coverage on the television screens dotted around the tunnel.
Meanwhile on the pitch, 100s of fans ran back into the stadium in fear of attacks outside. Borden writes:
The surge of people was terrifying, Mr. Berten said, because it seemed as though they were running in fear. “We thought perhaps there were attackers coming into the stadium with guns,” he said. It turned out, he said, that police had changed the protocol for that area and many fans, unsure of what to do, went to the field, where they milled around.
Back among the players, Antoine Griezmann was trying to locate his sister, who had been attending the concert in the Bataclan.
Both teams stayed in the stadium until the French side were brought away by bus at 3am to their training centre. The German team could not leave however as police feared their bus would attract attention. Instead they had to wait until 7am to be transported in minivans to the airport.
They arrived back in Frankfurt at around 10am.
