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Two dead in major operation targeting suspected Paris attacks mastermind Two dead in major operation targeting suspected Paris attacks mastermind
(35 minutes later)
Two people have been killed and seven arrested during a major police operation targeting the alleged mastermind of last week’s terror attacks in Paris. Two people have been killed and seven arrested during a major seven-hour police operation targeting the alleged mastermind of last week’s terror attacks in Paris.
A man wanted in connection with the bloody series of suicide bombings and shootings in the French capital on Friday was killed by a grenade during the raid, while a woman blew herself up by detonating an explosive vest. A woman blew herself up by detonating an explosive vest, the Paris public prosecutor said, and a man was killed by a grenade during the raid on an apartment in St-Denis, north of Paris.
Related: Paris attacks: police say two dead in St-Denis raid targeting 'mastermind' – liveRelated: Paris attacks: police say two dead in St-Denis raid targeting 'mastermind' – live
The French government spokesman, Stéphane le Foll, declared the raid, which involved several hundred heavily armed anti-terrorist police and Swat teams, officially over at about 11.30am, seven hours after it started. Francois Molins said the operation was launched after phone taps and surveillance led police to believe Abdel-Hamid Aba Oud, the suspected mastermind of the bloody wave of suicide bombings and shootings that left 129 people dead and more than 350 injured on Friday, might be in the apartment.
There was no information about the fate of a third fugitive thought by police still to have been holed up in the apartment on the rue de Corbillon in St-Denis, a town just north of Paris. Citing police sources, French media reported that the woman who blew herself up was Aba Oud’s cousin. Authorities said they could not yet confirm the 27-year-old- Belgian extremist, who moved to Syria in 2014 to fight with Isis but is known to have returned to Europe at least once since, had been in the flat.
The Paris prosecutor, François Molins, said earlier three men were arrested and led away from the flat at the start of the assault, at about 4.30am, while another man, reportedly the owner of the apartment, and a woman were also detained outside. Two other people who were in the apartment building but not the flat itself were also arrested. Seven people were arrested during the raid, launched at 4.20am by more than 100 heavily-armed anti-terrorist police and Swat teams. Three men were pulled from the apartment, on an upper floor of a block in the rue de Corbillon, and two more seized later while hiding in rubble inside the building. None have so far been identified.
The unidentified apartment owner told the AFP news agency before being led away that a friend of his had “asked me to put up two of his friends for a few days … I was asked to do a favour, I did a favour. I didn’t know they were terrorists.” The woman said the two visitors arrived “two days ago”. The landlord of the apartment, identified as Jawad Ben Dow, and a female friend, were arrested in the street nearby. He told reporters before being led away that “a friend” had “asked me to put up two of his friends for a few days … I was asked to do a favour, I did a favour. I didn’t know they were terrorists.” The woman said the two visitors arrived “two days ago”.
Police said the operation targeted Abdel-Hamid Aba Oud, the alleged mastermind of last week’s attacks, which killed 129 people, although it was not certain he was in the apartment. Aba Oud, 27, a well-known extremist sentenced in his absence to 20 years in jail in his native Belgium, was believed to have been in Syria. President François Hollande held an emergency cabinet at the Élysée Palace to monitor the raid. Addressing a gathering of France’s mayors later, he said Wednesday’s shootout had confirmed France was “in a war ... what these terrorists wanted to target was what France represents”.
Police are also still hunting Salah Abdeslam, a French national living in Belgium, whose brother, Brahim, blew himself up in the Paris attacks, and an unidentified “ninth attacker” sought since Tuesday night. “That’s what was attacked on 13 November. These barbarians targeted France in its diversity. It is the youth of France that was targeted, because quite simply it represents life.”
Wednesday’s operation came after a mobile phone, found in a dustbin near the Bataclan concert hall where 89 people died, was found with a map of the music venue targeted in one of the attacks. A text message on the phone sent at 9.42pm on Friday, as the Bataclan attack commenced, said: “Off we go, here we go again.” Frightened St-Denis residents said they had been woken up soon after 4am. Fatima Bourahli, 26, wore a coat over her pyjamas as she stood in the street while the raid was under way. Soldiers in camouflage with automatic weapons crouched nearby.
Video reportedly posted from the scene early on Wednesday morning showed men, with their faces covered, carrying automatic weapons and walking down otherwise deserted streets lit by streetlights.
Didier Paillard, the mayor of St-Denis, which is close to the Stade de France stadium, the target of one of Friday night’s attacks, said at about 6am he could still hear exchanges of fire. “It has not stopped since 4.30,” he said.
Fatima Bourahli, 26, wore a coat over her pyjamas as she stood in the street while the raid was under way. Soldiers in camouflage with automatic weapons crouched nearby.
“My daughter is six and she’s scared and confused,” she said. “The schools here are shut today, children are staying home. People are really scared and pretty tense. The government says we’re at war.”“My daughter is six and she’s scared and confused,” she said. “The schools here are shut today, children are staying home. People are really scared and pretty tense. The government says we’re at war.”
Djamila Khaldi, a 54-year-old cleaner, lives near the famous Basilica of St-Denis, not far from the street targeted in the raid at the heart of the town’s historic centre.Djamila Khaldi, a 54-year-old cleaner, lives near the famous Basilica of St-Denis, not far from the street targeted in the raid at the heart of the town’s historic centre.
“I was up before 4am because I had to drive my daughter to the airport,” she said. “I heard the shots and I just thought there must be some kind of standoff, terrorists must be hiding here.“I was up before 4am because I had to drive my daughter to the airport,” she said. “I heard the shots and I just thought there must be some kind of standoff, terrorists must be hiding here.
“What can you say? Terrorism has come to St-Denis, the mood has changed and it will stay that way. People are distrustful, looking at each other. St-Denis will be labelled for this now. It’s a real shame.”“What can you say? Terrorism has come to St-Denis, the mood has changed and it will stay that way. People are distrustful, looking at each other. St-Denis will be labelled for this now. It’s a real shame.”
Three police officers and a passerby were injured in the assault, and a police dog was killed.
Wednesday’s operation came after a mobile phone, found in a dustbin near the Bataclan concert hall where 89 people died, was found with a map of the music venue targeted in one of the attacks. A text message on the phone sent at 9.42pm on Friday, as the Bataclan attack commenced, said: “Off we go, here we go again.”
Police were still hunting Salah Abdeslam, a French national living in Belgium, whose brother, Brahim, blew himself up in the Paris attacks, and an unidentified “ninth attacker” sought since Tuesday night.
The existence of a so-called “ninth attacker” was unknown to investigators until CCTV was found on Tuesday showing three men in a car – not two as previously believed – opening fire with assault rifles on patrons at two of the bars and restaurants that were among the targets of the Paris attacks.The existence of a so-called “ninth attacker” was unknown to investigators until CCTV was found on Tuesday showing three men in a car – not two as previously believed – opening fire with assault rifles on patrons at two of the bars and restaurants that were among the targets of the Paris attacks.
In other developments, Europe and the US are on critical alert for further terror attacks after two Air France planes were diverted mid-flight because of security threats and “concrete evidence” emerged of a planned attack on German soil. Police had previously said that at least eight people were directly involved in the bloodshed: seven who died in the attacks, and Salah Abdeslam, who narrowly escaped arrest during a routine police control on Saturday morning, hours after the attack, near the Belgian border.
Air France flight AF55 flying to Charles de Gaulle airport from Washington DC was diverted to Halifax in Nova Scotia, Canada, following an anonymous threat. Minutes later, flight AF65 from Los Angeles to the same Paris airport was diverted to Salt Lake City reportedly because of a telephoned bomb threat. France and the rest of Europe remained on a high state of alert. In the US, two Air France flights en route to Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris were diverted because of anonymous bomb threats. Bothe were searched and later cleared for departure.
In Hanover, a football friendly between the German national side and Holland was cancelled 90 minutes before kick-off on Tuesday night after “concrete evidence” of a bomb plot emerged. In Hanover, Germany, a football friendly between the German national side and Holland was cancelled 90 minutes before kick-off on Tuesday night after what the German foreign minister, Thomas de Maizière, described as “concrete evidence” of a bomb plot emerged,
“It was an extremely tough decision to cancel the match, which was made after many pieces of information indicated a concrete threat,” the German foreign minister, Thomas de Maizière, said. Germany’s chancellor, Angela Merkel, who was due to attend the match but was flown back to Berlin when the terror threat was announced, said on Wednesday the decision to cancel was the right one.
Germany’s chancellor, Angela Merkel, was due to attend the match but was flown back to Berlin before it started when the terror threat was announced. De Maizière had earlier told reporters the security situation in Germany was critical and the chances of an attack on German soil “very high”. “These are difficult decisions,” she said, “possibly the most difficult decisions, between freedom and security. But yesterday the decision was taken in favour of security, and that’s right.”
French intelligence officials have said they believe Abu Oud was the architect of the Paris attacks. Officials cited Isis chatter that Abu Oud had advised foreign jihadis that a concert would be an ideal target for inflicting maximum casualties, as well as electronic communications between the suspected ringleader and Brahim Abdeslam.
Police and justice officials have said the carefully planned series of attacks, the deadliest in France since the second world war, were carried out by a militant cell in Belgium in close contact with Islamic State in Syria, which was quick to claim responsibility for the killings as retaliation for French air raids in Syria and Iraq over the past year.Police and justice officials have said the carefully planned series of attacks, the deadliest in France since the second world war, were carried out by a militant cell in Belgium in close contact with Islamic State in Syria, which was quick to claim responsibility for the killings as retaliation for French air raids in Syria and Iraq over the past year.
In further evidence of a Syria connection, French authorities on Tuesday identified the voice on an Isis video released after the attacks as that of Fabien Clain, a known French extremist in Syria since 2014. Two suspects being held in Brussels, Mohammed Amri, 27, and Hamza Attou, 21, have admitted driving to France to pick up Salah Abdeslam and bring him home to the suburb of Molenbeek, long known as a hotbed of extremism, early on Saturday.
Like Abu Oud, two suspects detained this weekend in Brussels, Mohammed Amri, 27, and Hamza Attou, 21, come from Molenbeek. After admitting driving to France to pick up Salah Abdeslam early on Saturday, hours after the attacks, they are being held on charges of terrorist murder and conspiracy. They are being held on charges of terrorist murder and conspiracy, with Belgian media reporting traces of ammonium nitrate, a fertiliser that can be used to make explosives, was recovered from their homes.
In unconfirmed reports, Belgian media said the pair were being investigated as possible suppliers of the suicide bombs used in the attacks, since ammonium nitrate, a fertiliser that can be used to make explosives, was recovered from their homes. Prosecutors have identified five of the seven attackers who died: four Frenchmen – Omar Ismaïl Mostefai, 29, Samy Amimour, 28, and Bilal Hadfi, 20, all of whom had recently spent time in Syria – and a foreigner who was fingerprinted in Greece last month and later claimed asylum in Serbia. He was carrying a Syrian passport, possibly fake, in the name of Ahmad Almohammad.
Prosecutors have identified five of the seven attackers who died in the assaults: four Frenchmen and a foreigner who was fingerprinted in Greece last month and later claimed asylum in Serbia. The man was carrying a Syrian passport bearing the name Ahmad Almohammad. Hollande has called for a global coalition to defeat the jihadis and launched major airstrikes on Raqqa, the de facto Isis capital in northern Syria, on three successive nights, with 10 French warplanes again attacking two Islamic State command centres on Wednesday.
The passport, however, is almost certainly fake, and so far there is no clue as to the actual identity or nationality of the attacker who used it. The aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle left the French naval port of Toulon on Wednesday morning for the eastern Mediterranean, where its presence will triple Fracne’s air strike capacity.
Three of the suicide bombers have been named as Omar Ismaïl Mostefai, 29, from Chartres, south-west of Paris, Samy Amimour, 28, a former bus driver from the Paris suburb of Drancy, and Bilal Hadfi, 20, a French national living in Belgium.
All three are thought to have spent time in Syria in the past two years. About 520 French nationals are believed to be in Syria and Iraq, while 250 have returned home.
The French president, François Hollande, who called the Paris attacks “an act of war”, has called for a global coalition to defeat the jihadis and launched major airstrikes on Raqqa, the de facto Isis capital in northern Syria, on three successive nights.
Russia has also intensified its attacks on Isis targets in Syria after it confirmed an earlier Isis claim that a bomb was responsible for the downing of a passenger airliner over Sinai last month, killing 224 people.Russia has also intensified its attacks on Isis targets in Syria after it confirmed an earlier Isis claim that a bomb was responsible for the downing of a passenger airliner over Sinai last month, killing 224 people.
The Syrian Observatory for Human rights said on Wednesday that the combined French and Russian bombardments had killed 33 jihadis in the past 72 hours. The Syrian Observatory for Human rights said on Wednesday that the combined French and Russian bombardments had killed 33 jihadis in the past 72 hours and the families of Isis fighters were fleeing Raqqa for the city of Mosul, which they believed to be safer.
Hollande is due to meet the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, in Moscow on 26 November, two days after flying to Washington to meet the US president, Barack Obama, to strengthen the countries’ cooperation against Isis.Hollande is due to meet the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, in Moscow on 26 November, two days after flying to Washington to meet the US president, Barack Obama, to strengthen the countries’ cooperation against Isis.