Co-ordinated attacks in the French capital saw the gunmen and suicide bombers target a music venue, a football match at the Stade de France and several popular restaurants and bars.

Six of the terrorists blew themselves up and one was shot by the police during the atrocity which President Francois Hollande called an “act of war”.

Three accomplices are believed to have escaped and be on the run.

Many Britons were among the dead and UK military experts fear it could “inspire” terrorists to target the UK.

At least 352 people are thought to have been injured, 99 critically, in what was one of the the worst acts of violence on French soil since the Second World War.

Some 1,500 extra troops were deployed to the streets of Paris after a state of emergency was announced.

Tight controls have also been introduced at the French borders.

Units were called in by the Counter Terrorist Command wing of the Metropolitan Police to provide extra covert surveillance of key targets and an armed response.

It followed high-level meetings with senior intelligence officers from the Joint Terrorist Analysis Cell at MI5.

More than 60 soldiers, including personnel from the SAS and the Special Reconnaissance Regiment, were last night operating under the direction of the Met’s CTC wing.

An unarmed unit of soldiers has been deployed to infiltrate key “areas of interest” known to contain terrorist sympathisers.

Another tranche, armed with nuclear, biological and chemical equipment, will be at a military base “within striking distance” of London, on call to respond to a major terror attack. 

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