Vietnam has expressed strong condemnation of the recent terror attacks, for which the Islamic State has claimed responsibility, in Paris which killed more than 120 people and injured hundreds of others on Friday.
The Southeast Asian country publicly censures the inhumane acts of bombing and gun firing and believes those who are responsible for the murder of innocent civilians will be severely punished, Le Hai Binh, spokesperson of the Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Saturday.
The nation is also in mourning for the families and friends of the victims, Binh added.
Vietnamese State President Truong Tan Sang and Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung on Saturday sent their telegrams of condolences to their counterparts, France’s President Francois Hollande and Prime Minster Manuel Valls, over the terror attacks that have rocked the whole world.
Pham Binh Minh, Vietnam’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, also expressed his deep sorrows for those who suffered and died to his French counterpart Laurent Fabius the same day.
“We have received many words of concern, sympathy and consolation from the government as well as the people of Vietnam and are touched by the support and solidarity between the two countries,” Jean-Noel Poirier, French Ambassador to Vietnam, said yesterday at a press conference at the Consulate General of France in Ho Chi Minh City.
France also wants to show its sincere appreciation for Vietnam, he added.
The European country will not surrender before such acts of terrorism, knowing that this is just the beginning of the Islamic State’s plan to terrorize the nation, the French ambassador asserted.
A group of gunmen and bombers carried out a series of onslaughts on restaurants, a concert hall and a sports stadium at locations across Paris on Friday, killing a total of 129 people and wounding 352 others, of whom 99 were said to be in a critical condition, according to Reuters.
Bataclan Theater suffered the worst of the attacks as three gunmen shot dead at least 89 people at a rock concert by an American band before detonating their explosive belts, the British news agency added.
Some 40 more people were killed in five other attacks in the Paris region, including a double suicide bombing outside the Stade de France stadium, where French President Hollande was watching a soccer friendly between France and Germany.
The Islamic State claimed responsibility on Saturday for the attacks, saying it sent militants strapped with suicide bombing belts and carrying machine guns to various locations in the heart of the French capital, Reuters reported.
President Hollande called the coordinated assaults on Friday night an "act of war" by the Islamic State, according to AFP.
The French president also declared a state of emergency, ordering police and troops into the streets, and set three days of official mourning for the victims of the attacks, the French news agency reported.
Prosecutors said Saturday that French police have identified three teams of gunmen wearing suicide vests who were responsible for the carnage, according to AFP.
A 29-year-old Frenchman was the first to be confirmed among the seven attackers, all of whom died in the assaults, while two other men who registered as refugees in Greece have been linked to the atrocities.