Paris attacks mastermind returned to scene

The discovery comes as both French and Belgian police are racing to find the 26-year-old Abdeslam, who crossed into Belgium after the attacks.

Painting a chilling picture of ringleader Abdelhamid Abaaoud, the Paris prosecutor on Tuesday said that after dropping off the gunmen and suicide bombers at the cafes and bars where the attacks were to take place, he later returned to the scene while the killing spree was in full swing.

French President Francois Hollande flies into Washington on Tuesday seeking support for his newly declared war on the Islamic State group after the Paris attacks, while the U.S. announced a worldwide travel alert for its citizens.

Cameras at a gas station in Resson, France – on a highway between Brussels and Paris – captured images of Abrini and Abdeslam two days before the attacks, the Belgian federal prosecutor’s office said.

Mr Molins said the plot could have been carried out on 18 or 19 November but was stopped by the police raid on the Saint-Denis apartment where Abaaoud was sheltering with his cousin and at least one other militant.

Jawad Bendaoud, who sparked a flurry of mocking social media memes for an interview he gave protesting his innocence as the police assault on the apartment in Saint-Denis was ongoing, was arrested soon afterwards. “He could not have been in any doubt… that he was taking part in a terrorist organisation”, Mr Molins told a news conference.

Brussels struggled to return to normal Wednesday after four days on maximum terror alert, with schools and the metro reopening despite two suspects from the Paris attacks still being at large.

The Belgian capital has been under the highest-level threat alert since Saturday, meaning that authorities fear a “serious and imminent attack”. About half of the city’s metro stations are operating again and people are back at work.

For two days parents scrambled to cope with the extraordinary decision to close schools which authorities said was necessary to foil an imminent Paris-style attack by jihadists.

Five people in Belgium have been charged in connection with the attacks, the most recent of which was today.

French authorities says they have no intention of scrapping the fan zones planned in host cities at next year’s European soccer championships despite the risk of attacks.

He was driving a black Renault Clio vehicle used in the attacks in Paris, which killed 130 people and injured hundreds of others. He could not have been in any doubt… that he was taking part in a terrorist organisation.

A police wanted notice said Abrini was “dangerous and probably armed”.

Tracing Abdeslam’s movements since the attacks has been a main focus of the Paris investigations. They admit to driving from Brussels to Paris to fetch Abdeslam hours after Abdeslam’s brother had blown himself up during the attacks but deny any knowledge of what Abdeslam had been doing in France.