Wounded To Attend Paris Memorial Service

Hundreds of people who lost loved ones in terror attacks in Paris two weeks ago will attend a memorial service in the French capital later.

Up to 1,000 family members have been invited to the official tribute at Les Invalides, in the heart of the city.

A number of those wounded in the attacks are also expected to attend.

French president Francois Hollande has flown home from a meeting in Moscow with Russia's Vladimir Putin to attend the event.

He is expected to make a 20-minute address at the one-hour ceremony, which will be shown live on television.

There is expected to be a minute's silence, and names of victims will be read.

Among those attending will be the parents of Nick Alexander, a Briton killed in the attacks.

They issued a statement for the first time since his death.

"Words cannot express the sadness we feel at the loss of our precious Nick," the statement read.

"This is just the beginning of a long road where we will have to get used to the absence of his physical presence around us - a physical presence that we loved so much, that made us laugh, that we loved being with, and always held us close wherever he was.

"The outpouring of love from around the world has been a great comfort to us and makes us even more proud to have had Nick as our son. We will love and miss him forever.

"We extend our love and condolences to all those who have been affected by this indiscriminate act, and are proud to stand with them in unity at the memorial service on Friday. Our lives are intrinsically linked forever."

In the run up to the commemoration, Mr Hollande has called on French citizens to hang out the Tricolour.

"Every French citizen can take part (in the tribute) by taking the opportunity to deck their home with a blue, white and red flag, the colours of France," Mr Hollande said.

But one family has called for a boycott of the service , angry at what they see as the collective failure of the French government and security services to prevent the attacks.

Emma Prevost, who lost her brother Francois-Xavier in the rampage, set out her views in a widely-read Facebook post.

She wrote: "So no thank you Mr President, politicians, your tribute we do not want.

"You were partly responsible for what happened to us. It was earlier that there was a need to act. The attacks in January should have been sufficient."

The American band, Eagles of Death Metal, have said they would like to be the first to play at the Bataclan concert hall when it re-opens.

Eighty-nine people were killed at the venue when heavily-armed terrorists stormed it 30 minutes into their set.

The terrorists also set off bombs outside the Stade de France, and opened fire at bars and restaurants, killing 130 people in all.

Security across the city remains tight, especially as two alleged members of the terror cell - Salah Abdeslam and Mohamed Abrini - are still on the run .

Some 11,000 police officers will be deployed across Paris from Sunday as the city gets ready to welcome world leaders for Monday's climate change conference.

:: Watch the memorial service live on Sky News from 9.30am.