French police arrest five people after northern Paris raid

Officials said authorities are working on determining whether 27-year-old Belgian Abdelhamid Abaaoud was among those killed in a chaotic and bloody raid on an apartment in the Paris suburb of Saint-Denis on Wednesday.

Police with shotguns and a ballistics shields patrolling Place de la Republique in Paris on Sunday.

Among the suspects still on the run is Abdelhamid Abaaoud, 27, the alleged mastermind of the attacks.

A French anti-terror commander has described watching the head of a female terrorist “fly through a window” during yesterday’s Saint-Denis raid.

Five of seven gunmen and suicide bombers killed during the attacks have already been identified.

– As we reported, François Molins, chief prosecutor of France, said Abaaoud was not among the eight arrested yesterday, but authorities were still trying to identify the remains of who they believe are two people.

Three suspects were detained during the raid, then two more people were found hiding in the rubble from the explosions and subsequently arrested.

One official says Hasna Aitboulahcen is believed to have detonated a suicide vest after a brief exchange with police officers.

French police raided addresses north of Paris early Wednesday.

Police cordoned off the area nearby, including a pedestrian zone lined with shops and 19th-century apartment buildings.

“I say to the European countries that we are coming, coming with booby traps and explosives, coming with explosive belts and (gun) silencers and you will be unable to stop us because today we are much stronger than before”, he said. Josh Earnest took to the morning news shows on Wednesday to defend President Obama’s ISIS policy and ongoing role in Syria.

The jihadis were set to carry out a second attack targeting Charles de Gaulle airport and the city’s financial district La Defense, according to reports.

“The witness to the raid was asleep in the suburb of Saint-Denis when he woke to the sounds of cries and gunshots”.

Local Metro stations were closed, as well as local schools.

The raided homes belonged to family and friends of Bilal Hadfi.

Police sources told Agence France-Presse and the Associated Press that video confirmed the existence of a ninth Paris attacker.

A wanted notice has been issued for Salah Abdeslam, a 26-year-old French national born in Belgium who is suspected of being involved in the attacks. The interview led security officials to believe Abaaoud was in Syria.

The operations were part of an anti-terrorism strategy but not directly linked to the Paris attacks, an investigator told AFP.

Hundreds of Belgians joined a candlelight vigil in solidarity with the victims of the Paris attacks on Wednesday in Molenbeek, the troubled Brussels neighbourhood where the brothers lived. Police have identified two houses rented by the brothers in Paris in the week before the attacks.

France and Belgium are striving to establish the identities of the attackers and chief suspects in the attacks that killed at least 129 people in Paris on Friday November 13.

Seven of the attackers died during the attacks.

Al Jazeera noted Tuesday that the French president reportedly wants the state of emergency to last three months.