One hundred and twenty nine innocent people were killed in the spate of shootings and explosions carried out last Friday night throughout the French capital.
Two of those victims were Portuguese.
Manuel Colaço Dias, 63, was killed in an explosion near the Stade de France stadium, while 35-year-old Precilia Correia was slain in the Bataclan theatre massacre.
In the wake of the bloody rampage it has emerged that one of the attackers may have been of Portuguese descent.
Omar Ismael Mostefai, 29, is believed to have been born in Paris to a mother who was born in Portugal and an Algerian father, though Portuguese authorities have yet to officially confirm those reports.
Omar Mostefai was the first jihadist to be identified in the attacks after blowing himself up in the Bataclan.
On Wednesday this week newspaper Jornal de Notícias reported that Portuguese secret services had been in the sleepy northern parish of Nossa Senhora do Amparo, in Póvoa do Lanhoso (Braga), to probe the allegations of the jihadist’s mother’s origins.
The report claims locals were quizzed about the woman, identified as 54-year-old Lúcia Moreira, and her family, who immigrated to France with her siblings when she was six.
There, later in life she met an Algerian named Mohammed, converted to Islam, married, and is said to have returned to Portugal only once if at all in the ensuing years.
It has been reported that Lúcia never had a Portuguese ID card.
Should the jihadist’s Luso links be confirmed, it will lend further prominence to the existing list of known Portuguese extremists with allegiances to Islamic State.
Earlier this year, in February, a group of five Portuguese Jihadists gained global prominence as it emerged they formed part of a restricted circle who accompanied Jihadi John, the Islamic State’s notorious executioner who was reportedly killed in a US drone strike in Syria last Thursday.
Evidence uncovered revealed that the five underwent training in East London before heading off to Syria where they worked on producing and disseminating the shocking videos of prisoners’ executions.
Although it has emerged that many of those Portuguese citizens obtained their passports by means of naturalisation, Lisbon said it would not revoke their nationality, but said it would look at stricter rules for foreigners applying to become Portuguese.
Meanwhile Portugal’s Prime Minster has sent a message of condolences and solidarity to the President of the French Republic following the terrorist attacks in Paris.
In a letter to François Hollande, Pedro Passos Coelho wrote “Having learned of the attacks that took place tonight in Paris, I want to express, on behalf of myself, my Government and of the Portuguese people, to you, to the bereaved families and to all the French people, the deepest condolences and sincerest solidarity in the face of tragic events which devastated France.”
The Prime Minister said that “Portugal firmly and vehemently rejects all forms of terrorism, which have the sole purpose to bring into question the security and stability of our societies and our peoples.”
Passos Coelho added that President Hollande and his people can ‘”count on the solidarity and collaboration with the Portuguese State to deal with this scourge that threatens our values, our beliefs and our societies, perfectly imbued with the values of tolerance and peace, which are at the root of our common European project.
“Please, Mr. President, in this time of grief and mourning for the French nation, accept my assurances of my highest consideration and personal esteem”, his message concluded.
The Prime Minister also penned words to the family of Portuguese national Manuel Colaço Dias who was killed in the attacks.
He said Portugal as a nation shares the family’s grief and mourning in “a solidarity based on the most fundamental values of human dignity.”
“Our thoughts and our solidarity are today with your family and with the large Portuguese community in France deeply affected by this tragedy [which] we all reject and will never be forgotten”, the Prime Minister wrote.
In the wake of the attacks Portugal’s State Secretary for Communities, José Cesário, travelled to Paris to meet with the Portuguese community there and pay homage to the victims.
In Portugal, during a ceremony held at Prime Minister Passos Coelho’s official residence in which a minute’s silence was held in tribute to the victims of the terrorist attacks, Portugal’s PM said: “It is urgent to find increasingly effective joint responses in fighting terrorism, which implies, of course, a better and closer cooperation in various fields between all Member States.”