World News – GB – A big boom throws an already anxious Paris

The loud noise, heard across the French capital, turned out to be a sound boom from a fighter plane But it surprised the city, which experienced a stabbing attack there days ago that rekindled fears of terrorism

PARIS – A strong boom surprised the city of Paris and its suburbs on Wednesday, stopping pedestrians in their tracks, interrupting tennis players at Roland Garros and sending social networks amid a wave of speculation about the origin of the noise

The source turned out to be a fighter jet breaking through the sound barrier as it flew heard, authorities quickly said, calling for calm and asking residents, annoyed by the sound, to stop ‘call the emergency lines

But in a city still deeply affected by the devastating terrorist attacks of 2015 – and smaller and sporadic incidents since then – many have said to each other, albeit for only a brief moment: « Is this a other? »

The terrorist threat in the French capital has never abated, authorities often warn, but fears of a bombing have been particularly acute over the past week On Friday, a man attacked two people with a cleaver. meat outside the former Paris offices of satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo, amid an ongoing trial for several people linked to the 2015 attack on the publication

The fighter plane, a French Rafale, was jammed from an Air Force base about 100 miles east of Paris to aid a plane that had lost contact with control of air traffic, Col Stéphane Spet, a spokesperson for the French Air Force, told the Agence France-Presse news agency

The noise was heard all over the city, and even miles away in its sprawling suburb

The boom even briefly interrupted a tennis match between Stan Wawrinka and Dominik Koepfer at Roland Garros, which was held east of Paris In a nearly empty stadium – due to restrictions linked to the coronavirus pandemic – the two stopped playing and looked up at the sky, puzzled, as the noise echoed through the empty stands

The clip, which circulated widely on social networks, was strangely reminiscent of a football match at the Stade de France, a stadium north of the capital, in November 2015 when a loud explosive noise was heard

In this case, however, the threat was real The source of the noise was a suicide bomber who detonated an explosive vest just outside the stadium as the first in a series of deadly attacks in Paris and the surrounding areas. surroundings which ultimately killed more than 100 people

Paris, explosion, sonic boom, sound barrier