Paris attacks: Two dead after police storm apartment

Paris: The suspected ringleader of the Paris attacks, Abdelhamid Abaaoud(in pic), was caught on camera at a Metro train station in the capital on the night of the carnage, a police source said, reports AFP.

The prosecutor’s office in Paris confirms the body of a woman is among three bodies found in the wreckage of Wednesday’s police raid of an apartment in the Paris suburb of St. Denis.

According to the source, after police learned that Abaaoud was in France and not in Syria as they previously thought, they set out to find Aitboulahcen in the hope he may be with her.

A handbag was found in the debris containing a passport in the name of Hasna Ait Boulahcen.

In a speech following the police siege, Hollande proclaimed that France is “at war” with the Islamic State group, but warned against overreactions and said no anti-Muslim, anti-Semitic or xenophobic acts will be tolerated. So far, the anti-terror sweeps have involved scores of raids and arrests.

Britain’s interior minister, Theresa May, said the EU must quickly implement beefed-up border security measures already agreed on, saying there was a clear link between tightened borders and the safety of Europeans.

“There is urgency. The time for decisions has come”. The jihadist Islamic State claims responsibility.

Interior minister Bernard Cazeneuve said French authorities had no information that the IS jihadist was in France before last Friday’s massacre that left 129 dead.

French authorities are searching for others that may have been involved in the attacks and a manhunt is underway for suspected accomplice/driver Salah Abdeslam, 26.

How and when Abaaoud entered France before his death remained unclear. The raids are centering on “his entourage”, the official said.

“We know and bear in mind that there is also a risk of chemical or biological weapons”, Valls told Parliament during a debate on extending the country’s state of emergency. The temporary measure was enacted in response to the attacks that killed at least 129 people and wounded more than 350 a week ago. Two of the eight were hospitalized, the Interior Ministry said.

“The key to respond to such a complex and now clearly an worldwide threat of the dimension we have seen is information sharing – the ability to collect and connect the right intelligence at the right time”.

Italy was also hunting five suspects after an Federal Bureau of Investigation tip-off about possible terrorist attacks on landmark sites.

A series of raids in Belgium and the 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.

The rumors became even more frenzied early Wednesday as it emerged that he was the potential target of the raid in Saint-Denis, the same area where ISIS suicide bombers had blown themselves up Friday outside the national stadium as the French soccer team played Germany inside.

The narrative provided by French officials about the coordinated attacks on France’s national stadium, a concert hall and cafes and restaurants in a trendy Paris neighborhood raises disturbing questions about how a wanted militant suspected of involvement in multiple plots could slip into Europe undetected. Under the request, those on terrorist watch lists – about 800 residents in Belgium now – would be forced to wear ankle bracelets to track their movements. “The situation is far more complex than one bad guy”. Michel also called for stronger border controls – an appeal that highlights wider debates across the European Union on how to reconcile its policies of control-free travel with demands to combat the Islamic State and other militant factions.

He said officers blasted the door open using explosives but were blocked by a shield that had been placed behind it. An exchange of fire lasted between 30 and 45 minutes, where “hundreds of shots were exchanged” and the terrorists launched grenades. The proposal was dividing the German government.