First footage of Paris attacks shows diners diving for cover as jihadist sprays café with bullets

The images obtained by Mail Online show the merciless savagery of an Islamic State assassin and the extraordinary bravery and survival instincts of his intended victims. They also show the incredible luck of a young woman who would have died had the terrorist's assault rifle not misfired as he held the weapon over her head, giving her a chance to run away. Police believe her to be the luckiest person to escape with their life during Friday's psychopathic rampage which left 129 people dead and 99 critically injured. See more photos after the cut...
There is also remarkable footage of a 20 year old waitress who ducked under the bar and wrapped her arms around an older, injured woman as the Islamic State gunman sprayed the restaurant and its outdoor dining area with bullets. The gunman seen in the video is believed to be 26-year-old Belgian Salah Abdeslam (inset), who is still on the run. The Daily Mail can today reveal the horrifying footage with second-by-second commentary. 

 

THE TIMELINE OF TERROR: Second by second, how the terrifying attack on the Paris cafe unfolded

By Richard Pendlebury 

The time is 9.34pm. 

It is an unseasonably pleasant evening and some of the restaurant's customers are eating or drinking on the terrace outside. At one table, to the right of the door looking out from the restaurant bar, sits a young woman in a chic trench coat. Her name is Lucille and she is having an al fresco supper with her boyfriend Quentin and another male friend.

 

At the other table on the left side of the door sit the two twenty-something women. All are regulars.

Inside the pizzeria only two tables are occupied at this hour.

 

At one, beneath a mirror by the main door, another two women can be seen chatting and laughing over drinks. At another table next to a side door a young couple are eating pizzas. The dark haired man has put his quilted jacket over the back of his chair.

 

Behind the bar two members of staff chat to each other as they work.

One is Samir, a short, bald headed young barman and waiter. He is folding napkins and placing them on the counter.

 

The other, washing glasses, is Jasmine, the pizzeria's 20-year-old waitress who will shortly become the heroine of this story.

She is a student and has only been in the job for a month. Jasmine is Parisian-born, but her parents hail from Morocco and Algeria; the same ethnic background as the men who even now are in the street outside and are about to shatter this relaxed and scene in a hail of indiscriminate and murderous gunfire.

9.34 and 8 secs.

From the CCTV camera above the bar you can see the people at the tables outside chatting animatedly. A man, thought to be Quentin, can be seen through the window of the side door. His head is thrown back in laughter. It is the last moment before the horror engulfs them all. 

9.34 and 9secs. 

The world explodes. The view in all three tapes is suddenly clouded by flying debris as the first volley of automatic fire rips into the restaurant. There is a maelstrom of shattering glass. In the next few seconds the effect of multiple bullet impacts can be seen on the back wall above the bar, close to the main CCTV camera.

Samir's mouth falls open, he and Jasmine clutch each other and instinctively duck behind their counter, the waitress pushing her colleague's head further into cover. 

Almost immediately Samir wriggles away and flees down the stairs to the cellar kitchen, Jasmine is left alone, crouched behind the bar.

One of the women sitting at the table under the mirror stands up and cowers with her face to the wall. Her companion flinches and throws herself to the floor. The young man eating pizza has pulled back his chair and dived under his table. His female companion also disappears from sight.

9.34 and 18secs. 

Seconds after Lucille, the male friend with whom she and Quentin had been dining comes hurdling over an upturned terrace chair and through the door. He is wearing a double-breasted camel coat and glasses. 

More bullets can be seen impacting along its frame as he does so, missing him by inches. He is running for his life; how he has not been hit already, like the other two at his table, is a miracle. 

He throws himself headlong onto the floor and huddles in a ball at the foot of the bar, in plain view from the street, before running up the stairs of the cafe.

9.34 and 20secs. 

In the top left of the screen of the CCTV camera behind the bar pointing at the main door one can see the first sign of movement of the ISIS killers. It is a male dressed in pale clothes. He does not appear to be wearing body armour or a suicide vest but he is clearly carrying an AK-47 style assault rifle, carried at waist height. One can see the banana shaped magazine silhouetted against a yellow parked car. Unlike everyone else you see in the film he is calm and moving slowly from left to right across the street outside; unpanicked.

9.34 and 22secs. 

The gunman turns around and raises the rifle to his shoulder. He has seen something out of shot and is taking aim.

9.34 and 24secs. 

There are more flashes and flying debris as another ripple of automatic fire crashes into the pizzeria.

9.34 and 26secs. 

The man thought to be Quentin can be seen through the side door raising his head from his hiding place under his table. Where have the gunmen gone? Three seconds later a woman outside can be seen standing up and fleeing up a side street. Quentin follows after her.

9.34 and 27secs. 

Jasmine is examining Lucille's wound. She puts her arm around her shoulders to comfort and protect the casualty.

9.34 and 29-30secs. 

No doubt realising that the position is no hiding place but a death trap, Quentin and Lucille's friend leap up from the restaurant floor and rush up a spiral staircase to the premises' first floor. He takes the steps two at a time. 

As he runs his hands are over his ears. While there is no audio such detail gives a vivid impression of the tremendous noise of the close quarter automatic fire in the street outside. 

The young man is a regular and knows the building's layout. That knowledge probably saves his life.

9.34 and 31secs. 

The female customer who was cowering under the mirror has slid to the floor and is trying to build a pathetic barricade of furniture and her coat around herself. 

For a brief moment you can see her pale, horror stricken face above the table top. She pulls another chair closer.

Read the rest of the report here