Fate of Paris attacks ‘mastermind’ unknown after massive raid

He has been identified through a Syrian passport found at the scene that identified him as a 25-year-old born in Idlib Paris Chief Prosecutor Francois Molins’ office said in a statement.

As details were still emerging of the shootout, U.S. intelligence published a report showing it warned in May that IS was capable of carrying out the kind of large-scale, coordinated attacks seen in Paris.

His body was found in the apartment building targeted in the chaotic and bloody raid in the Paris suburb of Saint-Denis on Wednesday. It said they haven’t been identified yet.

Tuesday, officials told The Associated Press they now believe at least one other attacker was involved and they were working to identify and track down that suspect.

The official confirmed an audio recording, punctuated by gunshots, in which an officer asks: “Where is your boyfriend?” and she responds angrily: “He’s not my boyfriend!”

“Then there was second big explosion”.

Abaaoud, 27, died with his cousin Hasna Aitboulahcen who blew herself up following a major pre-dawn raid in the northern suburb of Saint-Denis on Wednesday.

Abdelhamid Abaaoud, the suspected mastermind of the Paris attacks.

Hollande was speaking Wednesday before a gathering of the country’s mayors in Paris following the raid north of Paris related to Friday’s attacks, in which two suspects were killed and seven others arrested.

The source said the operation was still under way shortly before 8 a.m. (0700 GMT) and police were still trying to ” neutralise” two more suspects.

The neighbourhood where the raid took place is less than a mile from the Stade de France, one of the targets of Friday’s shootings and suicide bombings, along with a concert hall, bars and restaurants.

He said France has a simultaneous duty to ensure “humanity for refugees and protection of the French people”.

Noting that victims of the attacks came from at least 19 nations, Hollande says the global community, led by the United States and Russian Federation, must overcome deep-seated divisions about Syria to destroy IS on its home turf.

“And we are already doing that”, he said after the meeting.

Investigators believe the attacks – the worst atrocity in France since World War Two – were set in motion in Syria, with Islamist cells in neighbouring Belgium organising the mayhem.

Five police officers were injured and a 7-year-old police dog named Diesel was killed in the battle, which saw authorities shoot 5,000 rounds of gunfire that at one point went uninterrupted for about an hour. It contained a text message sent about 20 minutes after the massacre began.

Late on Tuesday, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said two Paris-bound Air France flights were diverted following anonymous bomb threats, and hundreds of passengers and crew were safely removed.

Attention was also turning to Belgium after French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said the attacks were “prepared overseas and involved a team situated in Belgian territory and who may have benefited from… complicity in France”.

French president wants to extend state of emergency and vows to escalate the ongoing air campaign in Syria.

French security forces have conducted 414 raids, making 60 arrests and seizing 75 weapons, including 11 military-style firearms.

The state of emergency expands police powers to carry out arrests and searches, and allows authorities to forbid the movement of persons and vehicles at specific times and places.