French ex-president testifies: “I owe it” to attack victims

By LORI HINNANT
Associated Press

PARIS (AP) — Former French President François Hollande has testified at the trial of 14 men accused of helping in the 2015 Islamic State attacks on Paris. Hollande said he was aware for months beforehand that the Islamic State group was targeting France. He was at France’s national stadium when a suicide bomber blew himself up outside the gates on Nov. 13, 2015. Other attackers struck cafes and bars, and the night culminated with a bloody siege at the Bataclan concert hall. In all, 130 people died in the attacks. Hollande was pressed repeatedly on whether government policy and intelligence failures led to the attacks. He insisted that there was no specific intelligence of an attack planned that night.