French Police Detain Suspect in Paris Attacks

The European Parliament in Brussels said Sunday it was stepping up security and raising its terror threat alert level, a day after officials in Belgium arrested five people in connection with the attacks. The other raids were connected to people known to Belgian intelligence, the source told CNN.

The Paris prosecutor’s office said late Saturday that the brother and father of one of the suspects were among those arrested, and several suspects had been identified.

The Belgian authorities are holding seven people for questioning in connection with the gun and suicide attacks in the French capital, and investigators have found that two cars used in the operation were rented in Belgium, prosecutors said.

It was reported earlier that 25-year-old Ahmed Almuhamed was also one of the jihadists.

There was no immediate verifiable claim of responsibility but supporters of the Islamic State militant group which controls swathes of Iraq and Syria said in Twitter messages that the group carried them out.

He was identified by officials as Salah Abdeslam, 26, from Brussels.

The scale and coordination of Friday’s wave of deadly assaults inside a major Western city – coming soon after ISIS’ claim of taking down a Russian airliner in Egypt – appear to represent a deeply disturbing increase in the extremist group’s capabilities.

Detective Superintendent Nick May says the matter is under investigation and it is too early to say what the item may be.

“We stand in solidarity with France in hunting down the perpetrators of this crime and bringing them to justice”, US President Barack Obama said after talks with his host, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Officials believe that Abdeslam’s two brothers were also involved: one crossed into Belgium with him and has since been arrested; the other blew himself up in the Bataclan after firing repeatedly at the audience.

An Iraqi intelligence dispatch warned that Islamic State group leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi had ordered his followers to immediately launch gun and bomb attacks and take hostages inside the countries of the coalition fighting them in Iraq and Syria. Both spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation is ongoing. A spokesman for Bavarian state police spokesman confirmed that firearms, explosives and hand grenades were found when undercover police stopped a man near the German-Austrian border on November 5.

David Cameron said the UK’s safety and security depended on “degrading and ultimately destroying” the Islamic State (IS) “death cult”.

Pope Francis Sunday morning expressed his “deep sorrow for the terrorist attacks”, saying, “to the President of the Republic Of French and all the citizens I offer the expression of my deepest sympathy”. AAP today reported that the death toll had risen to 132.

Paris remains on edge amid three days of official mourning.

“We will have to reinforce our effort” against terrorism, he said. Flags were lowered and Notre Dame Cathedral – closed to tourists like many Paris sites – planned a special church service for victims’ families.

Asked whether Abdelslam’s name had been shared over police networks by then, the official simply said: “I have no explanation”.

Iyad Madani, the secretary-general of the Jeddah-based Organization of Islamic Cooperation, voiced his “firm rejection of any terrorist act” that undermines “universal human values including the values of freedom and equality that France has consistently promoted”.