Paris Attacks: Main Suspect Behind Attacks Identified As Belgian National

Hours after he was linked to the attacks – his alleged role is not yet clear – Salah Abdeslam and two unknown travellers were stopped in their auto near the Belgian border. The AP reported Molenbeek’s mayor said the siege ended without any injuries.

Belgian special operations forces made an arrest during a raid in Molenbeek, a suburb of Brussels, but failed to apprehend main suspect Belgian-born French national Salah Abdeslam, sought by French authorities, the Belgian federal justice was quoted as saying by state broadcaster RTBF.

The extremist thought to have masterminded the terrorist attacks in Paris boasted of how police missed opportunities to stop him plotting atrocities before leaving for Syria. Two of the gunmen behind the bloodbath at the Bataclan theatre, where 89 people were killed, have been identified as 29-year-old Paris native Omar Ismail Mostefai and 28-year-old Samy Amimour.

French officials say they discovered a Syrian passport under the name Ahmad Al Mohammad at an attack site near the Stade de France. The scope of the terror threats facing Western Europe became clearer as French law enforcement uncovered an “arsenal” of weapons as part of 168 early morning raids on suspected Isalmists across France.

The President said he wanted French law to allow dual nationals to be stripped of their French citizenship if they were convicted of terrorism and dual nationals to be banned from entering France if they presented a “terrorism risk”.

Abdeslam is accused of helping his brother carry out a suicide bombing on the Comptoir Voltaire cafe, one of several locations targeted in Friday’s coordinated attacks that killed at least 129 people and hospitalized almost 100 in critical condition.

One of those released was Mohamed Abdeslam – whose brother Brahim was one of the suicide attackers in Paris, and whose other brother Salah is being hunted by police.

France Prime Minister Manuel Valls declared that his country was at war with terrorism.

He appealed for a single coalition including the United States and Russian Federation to eradicate Islamic State militants in Syria after the attacks on Paris. The Islamic State group, also known as ISIS or ISIL, took credit for the attacks.