Paris attacks: 2 jihadists killed in police raid

At least 129 people were killed when terrorists struck multiple locations Friday in Paris, and more than 350 others were wounded.

Paris prosecutor Francois Molins said they did not include Abdelhamid Abaaoud, believed to be the ringleader of last Friday’s massacres, or Salah Abdeslam, one of the suspected gunmen who is now the focus of an global manhunt. “There were explosions. You could feel the whole building shake”, said Sabrine, a downstairs neighbour from the apartment that was raided. The fate of Abdelhamid Abaaoud, remained unknown while the Washington Post reported that he was killed in the raid. Authorities said a woman blew herself up and a man was killed.

Belgian law enforcement conducted half a dozen raids in Brussels Thursday, focusing on the friends and family of one of the Paris attackers, Bilal Hadfi.

Five officers were wounded, and a police dog was killed in the operation.

Another police official not authorized to be publicly named because of police rules said four police officers were injured.

The Belgian jihadist was killed, along with a woman who blew herself up as police entered the building. Outside of France, nine people are being questioned following raids in Brussels.

The rumors became even more frenzied early Wednesday as it emerged that he was the potential target of the raid in Saint-Denis, the same area where ISIS suicide bombers had blown themselves up Friday outside the national stadium as the French soccer team played Germany inside. “We have reason to believe given their weaponry, given their structured organization, and their determination, we have reason to believe this commando cell could have moved to act”, Molins said.

Mr Cazenueve said the plots were planned overseas but carried out by military trained jihadists living in Europe, who are sent back to carry out the attack. Seven people were arrested in the operation, which started with a barrage of gunfire, including three people who were pulled from the apartment, officials said.

“It was only on November 16, after the Paris attacks, that an intelligence service outside Europe signaled that it had been aware that he had been in Greece”, he said, without specifying when Abaaoud was spotted there and who gave France the intelligence.

Police were also investigating his link to a foiled attack on a high-speed train from Amsterdam to Paris in August.

France has called for a global coalition to defeat the extremists and has launched air strikes on Raqqa, the de-facto Islamic State capital in northern Syria, since the weekend. “The state of the body doesn’t permit us to identify it at this stage”, he said.