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| Europe’s most wanted: Paris terror suspect Salah Abdeslam seized after shootout | Europe’s most wanted: Paris terror suspect Salah Abdeslam seized after shootout |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| For four months he was Europe’s most wanted man, the sole known survivor of a 10-strong cell of Islamist gunmen who killed 130 people in a bloody string of suicide bombings and shootings across Paris in November. | For four months he was Europe’s most wanted man, the sole known survivor of a 10-strong cell of Islamist gunmen who killed 130 people in a bloody string of suicide bombings and shootings across Paris in November. |
| Many were convinced he had fled to Syria. But on Friday afternoon Salah Abdeslam, a 26-year-old French national of Moroccan descent, was wounded and captured in Brussels after a dramatic shootout in the Molenbeek district of the Belgian capital. | Many were convinced he had fled to Syria. But on Friday afternoon Salah Abdeslam, a 26-year-old French national of Moroccan descent, was wounded and captured in Brussels after a dramatic shootout in the Molenbeek district of the Belgian capital. |
| Related: Salah Abdeslam faces questioning after being captured in Brussels police raid | Related: Salah Abdeslam faces questioning after being captured in Brussels police raid |
| As white smoke rose from the rooftop of a house in the rue des Quatre-Vents and masked police sealed off the area, the Belgian prosecutor’s office confirmed that Abdeslam, who appears to have escaped a shootout earlier this week, was under arrest and being treated for an injury to his leg. | |
| “We got him,” the secretary of state for asylum and migration, Theo Francken, tweeted. | “We got him,” the secretary of state for asylum and migration, Theo Francken, tweeted. |
| The man suspected by French police of buying gear, renting cars, booking rooms, scouting locations and moving people into place for the 13 November carnage in the Bataclan concert hall, at the Stade de France and in cafes and restaurants in Paris, grew up in Molenbeek, where investigators believe the operation was largely planned and where many of the attackers had roots. | The man suspected by French police of buying gear, renting cars, booking rooms, scouting locations and moving people into place for the 13 November carnage in the Bataclan concert hall, at the Stade de France and in cafes and restaurants in Paris, grew up in Molenbeek, where investigators believe the operation was largely planned and where many of the attackers had roots. |
| Abdeslam, who had had several brushes with the law and spent time in prison for armed robbery in 2010, came agonisingly close to arrest in the immediate aftermath of the attacks, but slipped through police hands. His movements before and after the onslaught are now well established, police have said. | Abdeslam, who had had several brushes with the law and spent time in prison for armed robbery in 2010, came agonisingly close to arrest in the immediate aftermath of the attacks, but slipped through police hands. His movements before and after the onslaught are now well established, police have said. |
| Belgian investigators have placed Abdeslam – a childhood friend of the terror cell’s ringleader, Abdelhamid Abaaoud – in Budapest in early September, and later on the Austrian border, allegedly picking up two of the attackers who had joined the flow of refugees and migrants heading up through the Balkans. | Belgian investigators have placed Abdeslam – a childhood friend of the terror cell’s ringleader, Abdelhamid Abaaoud – in Budapest in early September, and later on the Austrian border, allegedly picking up two of the attackers who had joined the flow of refugees and migrants heading up through the Balkans. |
| Days later, prosecutors have said, he was buying detonators and renting rooms in Paris. Then at 7pm on 11 November, he was filmed with a convicted petty criminal, Mohamed Abrini, at a petrol station on the A1 motorway to Paris, driving a black, Belgian-registered Renault Clio that he had rented in his own name. Abdelslam’s name was also on the black VW Polo found parked outside the Bataclan concert hall, where 89 people lost their lives. | Days later, prosecutors have said, he was buying detonators and renting rooms in Paris. Then at 7pm on 11 November, he was filmed with a convicted petty criminal, Mohamed Abrini, at a petrol station on the A1 motorway to Paris, driving a black, Belgian-registered Renault Clio that he had rented in his own name. Abdelslam’s name was also on the black VW Polo found parked outside the Bataclan concert hall, where 89 people lost their lives. |
| After allegedly dropping three of the suicide bombers off at the Stade de France on the 13 November, he headed for the Place Albert Kahn in the 18th arrondissement of the French capital, where he bought a mobile phone sim card at about 10pm. | After allegedly dropping three of the suicide bombers off at the Stade de France on the 13 November, he headed for the Place Albert Kahn in the 18th arrondissement of the French capital, where he bought a mobile phone sim card at about 10pm. |
| A few minutes earlier – although there is no indication Abdeslam knew this – his elder brother, Brahim, with whom he had run a bar in Brussels, had blown himself up at the Comptoir Voltaire cafe in the 11th arrondissement. | A few minutes earlier – although there is no indication Abdeslam knew this – his elder brother, Brahim, with whom he had run a bar in Brussels, had blown himself up at the Comptoir Voltaire cafe in the 11th arrondissement. |
| Salah then placed two calls, to his friends in Brussels Mohamed Amri and Hamza Attou – now among 10 men being held by Belgian police on suspicion of assisting him – asking them to drive through the night to Paris and pick him up. | Salah then placed two calls, to his friends in Brussels Mohamed Amri and Hamza Attou – now among 10 men being held by Belgian police on suspicion of assisting him – asking them to drive through the night to Paris and pick him up. |
| The same card was used to make two more calls, at 11.17pm and 11.30pm, a metro ride away across the city in the suburbs of Montrouge and Bagneux, then one more in nearby Châtillon – where a suicide vest similar to those used in the attacks would later be found by a street cleaner. | The same card was used to make two more calls, at 11.17pm and 11.30pm, a metro ride away across the city in the suburbs of Montrouge and Bagneux, then one more in nearby Châtillon – where a suicide vest similar to those used in the attacks would later be found by a street cleaner. |
| Investigators have speculated that Abdeslam may perhaps have been planning to blow himself up but decided, for reasons unknown, against it; in any event, the Islamic State’s claim of responsibility for the attacks mentioned one in the 18th arrondissement that never happened. | Investigators have speculated that Abdeslam may perhaps have been planning to blow himself up but decided, for reasons unknown, against it; in any event, the Islamic State’s claim of responsibility for the attacks mentioned one in the 18th arrondissement that never happened. |
| In the early morning of 14 November, he was pulled over for a routine traffic check in Cambrai, near the Belgian border, but waved through because his name was not yet linked to the carnage. Later, a CCTV camera captured Abdeslam and another man in a petrol station on the border between France and Belgium. | In the early morning of 14 November, he was pulled over for a routine traffic check in Cambrai, near the Belgian border, but waved through because his name was not yet linked to the carnage. Later, a CCTV camera captured Abdeslam and another man in a petrol station on the border between France and Belgium. |
| Related: The men who attacked Paris: profile of a terror cell | |
| Almost incredibly, a source close to the investigation said in December that Abdeslam may have slipped past two more police checks in France and Belgium that morning. | Almost incredibly, a source close to the investigation said in December that Abdeslam may have slipped past two more police checks in France and Belgium that morning. |
| Back in Brussels, Abdeslam is known to have holed up in a flat in the district of Schaerbeek – where he appears to have been able to stay, probably until 4 December, according to local media reports, despite one of the most intensive manhunts ever mounted in Belgium. | Back in Brussels, Abdeslam is known to have holed up in a flat in the district of Schaerbeek – where he appears to have been able to stay, probably until 4 December, according to local media reports, despite one of the most intensive manhunts ever mounted in Belgium. |
| Amid almost weekly reports in the Belgian press of sighting in and around Brussels, police eventually found three handmade suicide belts in the Schaerbeek flat on 9 December, one of them carrying Abdeslam’s DNA. | Amid almost weekly reports in the Belgian press of sighting in and around Brussels, police eventually found three handmade suicide belts in the Schaerbeek flat on 9 December, one of them carrying Abdeslam’s DNA. |
| Although they were closing in, it was not until earlier this week, on 15 March, that French and Belgian police officers carrying out a routine search in the quiet district of Forest suddenly came under sustained fire from automatic weapons. | Although they were closing in, it was not until earlier this week, on 15 March, that French and Belgian police officers carrying out a routine search in the quiet district of Forest suddenly came under sustained fire from automatic weapons. |
| One man died during that shootout: Mohamed Belkaïd, identified as “most probably” having helped the Paris attackers. He had been travelling under fake Belgian identity papers in the name of Samir Bouzid, the name used by one of the men Abdeslam had driven out of Budapest in early September. | One man died during that shootout: Mohamed Belkaïd, identified as “most probably” having helped the Paris attackers. He had been travelling under fake Belgian identity papers in the name of Samir Bouzid, the name used by one of the men Abdeslam had driven out of Budapest in early September. |
| Two, however, escaped, and earlier on Friday Belgian prosecutors confirmed traces of Abdeslam’s DNA had been discovered on a glass in the Forest apartment. The focus of the manhunt switched back to Molenbeek, where Europe’s most wanted man was finally surrounded, caught and wounded in a shootout with special forces on the rue des Quatre-Vents. | Two, however, escaped, and earlier on Friday Belgian prosecutors confirmed traces of Abdeslam’s DNA had been discovered on a glass in the Forest apartment. The focus of the manhunt switched back to Molenbeek, where Europe’s most wanted man was finally surrounded, caught and wounded in a shootout with special forces on the rue des Quatre-Vents. |
| Witnesses said the operation began at about 3.30pm, when several dozen police cars swooped on the street. “I heard about three or four shots fired, but they were muffled, as if taking place indoors,” one witness told Agence France-Presse. Salah Abdeslam’s four months on the run were over. | Witnesses said the operation began at about 3.30pm, when several dozen police cars swooped on the street. “I heard about three or four shots fired, but they were muffled, as if taking place indoors,” one witness told Agence France-Presse. Salah Abdeslam’s four months on the run were over. |