Suspected mastermind of Paris attacks, Abdelhamid, is dead

Francois Molins says the police began the raid Wednesday after gathering information that suspect Abdelhamid Abaaoud could be in a safe house apartment in the Paris suburb of Saint-Denis.

Abaaoud was fighting with the Islamic State in Syria previous year, but secretly returned to Europe to connect with other extremists, despite reports that he had died.

Investigators are also still digging into other angles related to Friday’s attacks, including the whereabouts of Abdeslam, the French suspect who was last seen heading toward the Belgian border in the hours after the massacres took place.

Eight people were arrested after police swat teams raided the building in the Saint-Denis suburb early this morning.

Heavily armed police squads were initially thwarted by an armoured door and had to use assault guns, sniper rifles, grenades and explosives during the “extremely difficult” and “complex” operation.

French media reports said one woman suicide-bomber blew herself up in the apartment while another terrorist was killed by a grenade.

MailOnline reported that the woman suicide bomber may be Abaaoud’s bride. The Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for the carnage, which has left France in mourning and on edge.

Gunshots can be heard piercing through the streets of Saint Denis as French police siege an apartment believed to be containing suspects of the Paris terror attacks.

At least two bodies were found in the apartment in Saint-Denis, north of Paris, after a shootout with police, but they have not yet been identified, prosecutor Francois Molins told a press conference.

Abdelhamid Abaaoud, believed to be 27, was thought to have been the focus of a raid on a Paris flat overnight.

Sporadic bangs and explosions continued, and at 7.30am (0630GMT) at least seven explosions shook the centre of Saint-Denis.

“I said that there was no mattress, they told me “it’s not a problem”, they just wanted water and to pray”, the man said on condition of anonymity before being handcuffed and led away by police.

Neither was Salah Abdeslam, a French citizen suspected of involvement in Friday’s coordinated wave of terrorist violence carried out in the name of ISIS.

He may have been in Paris when 129 people were killed in a series of fatal attacks on Friday. “I never thought terrorists could have hid here”. At least two people are dead and seven people were arrested. The police have not named any of those who died or were arrested.

The jihadist from Belgium had returned from Syria in 2014 and had been involved in four of six foiled attacks in France since spring 2015, he added.

Police say they are hunting for two fugitives suspected of taking part as well as any accomplices.

Police used more than 5,000 rounds of ammunition in the raid after terrified residents living in the area near the Stade de France stadium were evacuated.