AKIPRESS.COM - Decrying an “act of war,” French President François Hollande warned Saturday of a possible major escalation in the fight against the Islamic State after a bloody siege across Paris that killed at least 127 people, wounded scores more and sharply raised the terror threat confronting Europe, reports The Washington Post.

As if in response to Hollande’s address, the Islamic State moments later asserted responsibility for the worst attacks in France since World War II and among of the most deadly terrorist strikes on Western soil since Sept. 11, 2001.

Friday’s carnage also further reinforced worries of expanded Islamic State reach through recruitment and propaganda, and apparent evolving tactics among its fighters that include commando-style raids against its foes in the West and elsewhere.

As part of a rapid and widening developments, police in neighboring Belgium arrested at least one suspect in connection with the Paris attacks, media reports said after a raid in a Brussels district that include a large immigrant community from Morocco and Turkey.

In Libya, a U.S. airstrike was believed to have killed the leader of the Islamic State’s branch in the North African nation, a U.S. official said. And in Greece, meanwhile, authorities said a Syrian passport found at a Paris attack site was carried by a man who passed through an Aegean island last month.

Left behind in Paris were the latest scars, said Pope Francis, from the “piecemeal Third World War.” One survivor described the gunmen coldly picking off hostages in a packed concert hall as if “we were birds.”

At least 180 people — including some Americans — were wounded, including 100 with serious injuries, officials said. Initial reports of a death toll higher were revised down by authorities after they received a full accounting from the various attack sites — where mourners left flowers and notes of sympathy beside police tape and barricades.

All eight attackers died: seven in suicide blasts while the eight — also wearing explosives — was shot by police, according to a senior European intelligence official familiar with the investigation.

The Islamic State’s claim of responsibility — issued on its internal social media site — said the targets were “precisely chosen in the center of the capital of France” and specifically mentioned Hollande’s appearance at the soccer match.

“Let France and all nations following its path know that they will continue to be at the top of the target list of the Islamic State,” it said.