Suspected explosive belt found south of Paris, police source says

Meanwhile, French and Russian authorities announced they will increase security at fan zones at next year’s European Championship and the 2018 World Cup following the attacks.

Abdelhamid Abaaoud, the suspected ringleader who was killed in police raids in the Parisian suburb of Saint Denis, was near the Bataclan theatre during a deadly siege there, it has emerged. Was it intended for another attack that never happened?

France has intensified its bombings in Syria since the attacks in Paris.

These records also suggest Abdeslam then went to Montrouge, where he was collected by two friends and driven to Belgium.

The unprecedented security measures come as authorities hunt for one or more suspected extremists, including Abdeslam. His fingerprints, Molins said, were found in a vehicle connected with the attacks, and particularly on the key.

Data from Abdeslam’s telephone reportedly placed him in Chatillon in the south of Paris, not far from Montrouge.

Yet in Brussels it has become clear that fighting terrorism isn’t easy.

The rest of the country, including Brussels airport, remains on security alert level three, meaning an attack is considered possible and the threat credible. The schools and subway are now closed, but set to reopen Wednesday.

A manhunt for Abdeslam was underway throughout France and Belgium.

These include one suspect who was arrested as part of a sweep that saw 21 people detained since Sunday night. The materials used contained the same type of explosives as the ones that were utilized for the November 13 terrorist attacks in Paris, which resulted in the deaths of over 125 people and wounded hundreds more.

Since there were no explosions or shootings in the 18th, investigators are now wondering whether there was a failed, or aborted, attack, the source said.

Belgium, the institutional capital of Europe, has been at the center of probes into the Paris attacks since it emerged that two of the incident’s bombers had been living there.

In its statement claiming responsibility for the attacks, ISIS referred to an attack in the 18th arrondissement, where the popular tourist spot of Montmartre is located.

Tracing Abdeslam’s movements since the attacks has been a main focus of the investigations in Paris. If it is a suicide vest belonging to Abdeslam, why would it have been discovered as late as Monday, 10 days after the attacks? “I didn’t know it so we went to school”. “They simply don’t have the same means as Britain’s MI5 or the DGSI (French intelligence agency)”, said Louis Caprioli, a former head of the DST, France’s former anti-terrorism unit. We are getting word that a suspected suicide belt was found in a southern suburb of Paris.

President Francois Hollande, seeking to rally global support for the military campaign against Islamic State, met with U.S. President Barack Obama at the White House on Tuesday where they agreed to scale up operations against Islamic State in Syria and Iraq.