French PM Says a few of Paris Attackers, Including Mastermind, Exploited Syrian

The main suspect in coordinating the Paris attacks, Belgian Abdelhamid Abaaoud, was killed in Wednesday’s raid on an apartment in Saint-Denis.

Confirmation that such a high-profile figure from the Islamic State (IS) group had slipped undetected into France prompted a sharp response from Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve, who demanded Europe step up its response to the terror threat.

Authorities are still looking for Salah Abdeslam, 26, a friend of Abaaoud’s who is suspected of participating in last week’s terrorist attacks.

The second body was that of a person whom police said had blown themselves up and initially believed to be his cousin, Hasna Aitboulahcen, a 26-year-old French woman of Moroccan origin.

A lawyer representing Abaaoud’s father said on Friday her client wished his son was taken alive so he could question him about the whereabouts of his younger brother. (“Police do not believe that Abaaoud was in fact related to Aitboulahcen”, The Washington Post says, “but the police source said that the caller referred to him that way.”) Moroccan authorities also reportedly helped lead police to the apartment.

“We ask the French authorities…to publicly make the relevant clarification”, the ministry said. “We must not rule anything out”, Valls said.

He said the three cars found in Paris after the attacks were rented by the Abdesalam brothers in Belgium and arrived “in convoy” on the eve of the attacks.

Police have already identified the body of Abdelhamid Abaaoud, alleged to have planned the attacks.

Belgium, and its capital in particular, have been at the centre of investigations into the Paris attacks – which included suicide bombers targeting a France-Germany soccer match – after the links to Brussels emerged.

Abaaoud was involved in four out of six attack plots foiled in France this year, Cazeneuve said.

The French Senate is also expected to vote Friday afternoon to extend the state of emergency expanding police powers for three more months.

Police say they launched Wednesday’s operation after receiving information from tapped phone calls, surveillance and tipoffs suggesting that Abaaoud was holed up in the apartment.

Several people were also arrested during the raid.

France’s Prime Minister Manuel Valls announced on Friday (local time) that the death toll from the attacks a week ago by suicide bombers and gunmen has risen to 130 people.

The development comes as European Union interior and justice ministers are gathering for an emergency meeting in Brussels on how best to respond to the threat of violent extremism.

Amid widespread concerns that extremists are returning from fighting in Syria and Iraq to Europe unchecked, Mr Cazeneuve said further delay was unacceptable.

Police in the Netherlands have detained three people who were found near a parked vehicle in Rotterdam with Belgian registration plates. Brahim blew himself up outside a bar in the bustling Boulevard Voltaire, while police are still hunting his sibling.