France launches ‘massive’ air strike on ISIS in Syria

Police have named Brussels-born Salah Abdeslam, 26, as a key suspect, and a manhunt is under way.

A total of 5,000 soldiers are now patrolling Paris and its suburbs, with additional reinforcements due to arrive by Wednesday.

French media said police also raided houses in Toulouse, Grenoble and Bobigny.

Mr. Valls said the country was now at war with terrorism and that the Paris attacks were “conceived, organized and planned” in Syria. The US said it is also sending as many as 50 special forces to northern Syria.

On Sunday, the French Prime Minister Manuel Valls pledged to deploy 10,000 soldiers throughout France, to supplement the 7,000 troops, which have already been deployed since the January Charlie Hebdo attacks.

President Francois Hollande has imposed a state of emergency and canceled his plans to attend a summit of the Group of 20 (G20) major economies starting in Turkey later on November 15. The attackers used guns and bombs in multiple attacks across Paris, including random shootings at cafes, bombings at the Stade de France, and a mass shooting at the Bataclan theatre which left 100 people dead. One of them is the suicide bomber who severely injured a few people at a cafe near Place de la Nation, another was arrested and a third one is being tracked down by police, according to Le Monde. He was reportedly stopped by officers in the wake of the attacks but then let go.

“We know that more attacks are being prepared, not just against France but also against other European countries”, he said on RTL radio.

The Associated Press reported that Abdeslam eluded capture during an encounter with French law enforcement shortly after the attacks.

The AP says the information was shared in a dispatch from Iraqi intelligence and that it was corroborated with six senior Iraqi officials.

Molenbeek has been connected with two previous attacks in France. The attacks wounded 350 people, 99 of them seriously.

Abdeslam rented the black Volkswagen Polo used by the hostage-takers.

“In addition, two cars registered in Belgium were found in Paris, one near the Bataclan and the other near Pere Lachaise”, the statement said.

Three of the seven killed attackers are believed to be French, two are believed to be Belgians, according to French and Belgian officials.

“Five of the terrorists killed have now been identified”, the prosecutor added.

The vehicle was later found abandoned, with three Kalashnikovs inside.

Paris remains on edge amid three days of official mourning. Another one of their siblings is said to have been killed in the rampage at one of the world’s most visited cities, the authorities said.

But the city’s museums will reopen today, including the Louvre and the Musee d’Orsay.