Paris terror attacks: Two dead and seven arrested in complex raid

Two inside the apartment were killed, including the woman who detonated the suicide vest, and at least three more were injured.

At least seven people were arrested for questioning by French police.

Authorities in the Paris suburb of Saint Denis are telling residents to stay inside.

Police were also seen breaking down a door to a church in the same Paris suburb, but it’s not known why.

Two people were killed, including a woman who blew herself up, in a police raid on Wednesday in north Paris with police hunting the mastermind of last week’s attacks on the French capital.

Following the raid, France President Francois Hollande spoke at a congress of mayors, claiming “the anti-terrorist raid in Saint-Denis confirms that we are at war”.

Up to three people are dead and three others have been arrested during an anti-terrorist raid in northern Paris.

Special police forces on Wednesday launched an operation to catch one of the suspects from Friday night’s shooting in Paris.

Residents of the area where the raid took place say the first explosion shook the area a little after 4 a.m. One man says he heard “continuous” sounds of grenades and automatic gunfire for an hour.

Scores of police stormed the building at around 4am local time, but were met with unexpectedly strong resistance, another official said.

As police stepped up the hunt for the fugitives, French and Russian jets pounded IS targets in the group’s Syrian stronghold of Raqqa for a third consecutive day.

27-year-old Belgian Abdelhamid Abaaoud, the suspected mastermind of Friday’s attacks, is believed to be the focus on the raid.

Reports also suggest that unidentified men were still holed up in an apartment.

The Stade de France – the French national soccer stadium, and one of the scenes of Friday’s terrorist attacks – is located in Saint-Denis. But seven hours later, officers forced entry into a Saint Denis church, and ambulances, police and police vehicles still lined the street.

“The police closed the door so I could not get out, and told me to lie down on the ground, not to move and turn off all the lights, so that’s what I did”, said the woman, identified only as Sabrine.

Mr Molins said: “The identities of the people who were arrested in this building are not absolutely certain but Abaaoud and Salah Abdeslam are not part of the people who have been arrested”. More than 100 of the bodies have been released for burial, and autopsies are expected to be completed by the end of the week, the council said.