Belgian police mount search linked to Paris attacks

Telephone analysis shows that Abdelhamid Abaaoud had returned to the area around the scene – where 90 people were killed by three assailants – while police were still attempting to free hostages on November 13.

The official said Corel was detained for illegal holding of a hunting rifle.

As the investigations into the attacks deepen, French President Francois Hollande is trying to rally world leaders to help him take on Islamic State at its roots in Syria.

At least five people in Belgium have been charged with terrorism crimes in connection to the Paris attacks. An explosive belt was found dumped near the capital on Monday, close to a location where his mobile phone was detected the night after the attacks, the prosecutor said. Earlier on Thursday, they launched a raid in the southern part of Belgium, but no arrests were made. “I did a favour, sir”.

Schools and the metro system reopened partially on Wednesday despite two suspects from the Paris attacks still being at large.

Prosecutors say there’s evidence that a later assault was being planned by Abaaoud on the La Defense business district.

Abaaoud died during the police raid along with Hasna Ait Boulahcen, a woman believed to be his cousin, and an as yet unidentified third person.

“We know that this attack wasn’t just intended for the people of Paris, but for our whole way of life”, she said after laying a single white rose at the Place de la Republique, the Paris square that has become the focal point of tributes for the victims. Aides later said the figure was based on an assumption of how many people would have to be involved to mount attacks like those in Paris.

Abaaoud was also linked by French officials to a failed assault on a Paris-bound high-speed train in August and a plot to attack a church in the city in April.

On Tuesday, an arrest warrant was issued in Belgium for a man named Mohamed Abrini over the attacks. Abrini, who has been described as “armed and risky”, was seen with Salah Abdeslam – another top fugitive suspect in the attacks who crossed into Belgium the day after the killings – at a gasoline station in Ressons on the highway to Paris two days before the attacks.

But the Belgian capital remains on the highest alert level, with hundreds of armed police and soldiers on patrol.

Hollande will discuss the crisis with German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Wednesday and Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday after meeting U.S. President Barack Obama on Tuesday.

Mr Obama said there would be increased co-operation with France to hit IS targets in Iraq and Syria, and called on the European Union to finally implement an agreement that would require airlines to the share passenger information.

French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve told lawmakers on Tuesday that 124 people have been handed preliminary charges since a state of emergency was imposed hours after the attacks, following more than 1,230 searches in which 230 weapons were recovered.