Paris attack mastermind confirmed dead as lawmakers approve state of emergency

The alleged mastermind behind the Paris attacks was killed Wednesday during a raid carried out by French police, the Paris Prosecutor has confirmed.

Abdelhamid’s presence in France exposes serious gaps in Europe’s security system.

A country outside of Europe tipped off Paris on Monday that Abaaoud had been spotted in Greece, Cazeneuve said, but he did not say when exactly Abaaoud was believed to have been there.

His body was found in the apartment building targeted in the chaotic and bloody raid in the Paris suburb of Saint-Denis on Wednesday.

But it was after the Verviers raid, shortly after the Charlie Hebdo attacks in January in Paris, that Abaaoud’s name began to widely circulate.

As it turned out, not only was Abaaoud in Europe, but right in front of the noses of French investigators, a 15-minute walk from the Stade de France stadium where three suicide bombers had blown themselves up during the November 13 attacks that killed 129 people and wounded hundreds.

The entire third floor of the building at 8, rue du Corbillion collapsed during Wednesday’s raid when Hasna Aitboulachen, Abaddoud’s cousin, blew herself up, resulting in identification taking longer than expected, said Georges Salines, deputy commander of elite RBI police unit.

Abaaoud was involved in a planned attack on churchgoers in the Paris suburb of Villejuif and investigations are continuing into his possible involvement in an attempted attack on a Thalys train between Amsterdam and Paris in August, he said.

“We have strong reason to believe that this cell was about to commit massive terror attacks in France”, Prime Minister Manuel Valls said Thursday, speaking on public broadcaster France 2.

Confirmation that such a high-profile figure from the Islamic State (IS) group had slipped undetected into France prompted a sharp response from Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve, who demanded Europe step up its response to the terror threat. The bill now goes to the French upper house, or Senate, for an expected vote Friday. “There is also the risk from chemical or biological weapons”, Valls said.

France has stepped up its airstrikes against extremists in Syria, and French military spokesman Col. Gilles Jaron said Thursday that French forces have destroyed 35 Islamic State targets in Syria since the attacks on Paris.

Lynch said terrorist will no rob us of American ideal. A series of raids in Belgium and a search of a home on the outskirts of Paris on Thursday were the latest signs of investigators’ efforts to piece together – and take down – the network of terrorists behind the attacks before they can strike again. Western intelligence agencies reportedly tried to target Abaaoud in the months prior to the Paris attacks, without success.

French authorities are using a state of emergency declared by President Francois Hollande to carry out a widespread clampdown on potential terrorist threats, detaining dozens of people, putting more than 100 others under house arrest and seizing an alarming array of weapons.

And France’s interior minister, Cazeneuve, will press the case for more concerted European action – including bolstering borders – during an upcoming European Union justice council meeting in Brussels. French authorities have said most of the attackers – five have been identified so far – were unknown to them. Sweden’s Security Service, known as SAPO, said the request was not linked to the Paris attacks. But two USA officials said that many, though not all, of those identified were on the U.S.no-fly list.