Pope Francis has condemned the deadly terror attacks on Paris, the capital of France, which left no fewer than 129 people killed, describing the incident as part of “the Third World War”.

Francis said he was “shaken” by what he described as the “inhuman” attacks on a string of Paris venues, lamenting that he did not “understand these things, done by human beings…”

“There cannot be justification, religious or human. It’s inhuman,” an emotional Pope Francis said during a telephone interview with TG2000 television.

When asked whether he thought this was part of a “piecemeal Third World War” that he had made reference to in the past, he said “this is a piece of it”.The scale of the attacks gave way to the thinking that death toll could rise.

352 victims were injured, 99 of them critically. In an online statement, militant group, Islamic State, IS, claimed responsibility. The attackers ruthlessly sought out soft targets where people were getting their weekends underway: a busy concert venue, restaurants and bars, the French national stadium where an international soccer game was being played. Already, French security agencies have identified three of the attackers as French, Syrian and Egyptian nationals.

There is heightened security presence in most European cities yesterday. Arrests are on-going: One person was reportedly arrested at Gatwick Airport in the United Kingdom; some arrests were made in Belgium and authorities are claiming that there is a connection between the raids and the deadly attacks in France.

One of the vehicles used in the Belgium attack was said to have been traced to a particular location.

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