Germany: 3 arrested in connection to Paris attacks

They were arrested in the town of Alsdorf, just northeast of the city of Aachen.

Police in France named two of the French attackers as Ismael Omar Mostefai, 29, from Chartres, southwest of Paris, and Samy Amimour, 28, from the Paris suburb of Drancy.

Seven attackers died – six after detonating suicide belts and a seventh from police gunfire – but Iraqi intelligence officials told The Associated Press that its sources indicated 19 participated in the attack and five others provided hands-on logistical support.

It added that police had conducted further operations in the area which it could not detail “for tactical reasons”, and that “two more people were arrested by special forces in Alsdorf”.

Defence lawyer Xavier Carrette said his client, 27-year-old Mohammed Amri, was arrested over the weekend and is being held on charges of terrorist acts and being part of a terrorist conspiracy.

US Secretary of State John Kerry has described Islamic State militants as “psychopathic monsters”.

– Syria connection: The Paris attacks were planned in Syria and organized in Belgium, French President Hollande said.

The three suspects were foreign nationals, Germany’s DPA news agency reported.

– In a rare address to a joint session of Parliament on Monday, Hollande said he wants to extend by three months the state of emergency declared on the night of the attacks.

France and Russian Federation both staged air strikes on Islamic State targets in northern Syria on Tuesday (Wednesday NZT) as Paris formally requested European Union assistance in its fight against the group behind the carnage in Paris. He was linked to a plan to attack Belgian police that was thwarted in January.

Valls refused to comment on media reports that Amimour managed to slip back into France unnoticed despite being the object of an arrest warrant for terrorism-related activity.

– French authorities carried out 128 new security raids overnight into Tuesday, officials said.