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Paris's Bataclan music hall to reopen this year

The owners of the Bataclan concert hall in Paris, where 90 people were murdered by jihadists on 13 November, 2015, say they plan to host music shows again before the end of the year. In a statement on Wednesday, the club owners said, "We'll do our best to host events before the end of 2016."

The Bataclan concert hall, in Paris's 11th district, undated
The Bataclan concert hall, in Paris's 11th district, undated F. Guillot/AFP
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The Bataclan is an historic venue whose distinctive 19th century Chinoiserie-style building has been shuttered since the Paris attacks, which left 130 people dead and 350 others wounded.

The Bataclan, in Paris's 11th district near the Place de la RΓ©publique, was one of the capital's top venues for live music before the attacks. In the months since, dignitaries and international music stars including U2 and Madonna have laid flowers there to honour the attack victims.

The reopening of the famed music hall has been in the works since December, when Olivier Poubelle and Jules Frutos, who own 30 per cent of the venue, told French daily Le Monde they were determined to see the Bataclan brought back to life.

Nearly three months after the attack, survivors are still recovering from the physical and emotions wounds of that fateful night, when jihadists from the Islamic State armed group stormed a concert by the US band, Eagles of Death Metal.

β–Ί Read more: 13 November Paris attacks

Chilling details of the Bataclan assault emerged a month after the attack, when information from a judicial enquiry leaked to France's Le Figaro newspaper suggested a deliberate plan to target the band, whose members fled the stage at the start of the shooting.

The three suicide bombers who attacked the concert hall reportedly screamed, β€œWhere is the singer? Where are the Yanks?” as they fired their Kalashnikov guns into the audience, killing 90 people.

Referring to French and US military operations against IS militants in Syria, the gunmen told petrified spectators: β€œYou are bombing with the Americans, so we are targeting you and the Americans."

The attackers β€œspoke between them in Arabic and to their victims in French”, according to survivors who lay on the ground playing dead in order to escape the bloodbath.

They ordered spectators to stand at the doors and windows to use them as β€œhuman shields”.

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