Suspected ‘Ringleader’ of Paris Massacre Killed

US Secretary of State John Kerry has described Islamic State (IS) militants as “psychopathic monsters” following Friday’s deadly attacks in Paris.

Two of the three Bataclan attackers were identified as Samy Amimour, a 28-year-old bus driver from the Paris suburb of Drancy, and Omar Ismail Mostefai, a French petty criminal who had been identified as a potential radical but had never been implicated in a terrorist network.

According to the AP, France Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said the European Union could contribute in Iraq and Syria operations, or they could support the French in other operations.

Abdeslam added: “I am one of the brothers but in no way am I linked in any shape or form to what happened on Friday 13”. Abaaoud also knew another attacker, Ibrahim Abdeslam; they were tried together in 2010 in Belgium for a minor offense.

President François Hollande of France, addressing a rare joint session of Parliament in Versailles, urged lawmakers to extend for three months the state of emergency he declared after the attacks on Friday night.

Declaring that “France is at war”, he said the attacks had been “planned in Syria, organized in Belgium, perpetrated on our soil with French complicity”.

Ten warplanes have targeted so-called Islamic State’s Syrian stronghold of Raqqa for the third consecutive day on Tuesday, France’s defence minister said, vowing the campaign against the group would intensify in the coming days. The official said this case shows that sharing intelligence and effective communications are crucial to countering terrorism.

It would also give police the right to do things like conduct searches without judicial oversight and enforce house arrests.

Meanwhile, in Belgium, police launched a major raid in Brussels targeting fugitive Paris attacks suspect Salah Abdeslam on Monday but the operation ended without any arrests, prosecutors told AFP.

Britain announced on Monday it would boost its intelligence agency staff by 15 percent and more than double spending on aviation security to defend against Islamist militants plotting attacks from Syria. Suspected of having rented black VW Polo vehicle used in attacks in Paris.

“This is September 11 for Europe”, he said. Hollande stood with students at the Sorbonne.

Minute’s silence On the second of three days of national mourning, much of France came to a standstill at midday on Monday for a minute’s silence to remember the dead. Officers then obtained a warrant to search the home of the parents of a man who lived in the house, where they found several automatic pistols, ammunition, police armbands, military clothing and a rocket launcher.

“Let this be clear to everyone, this is just the beginning, these actions are going to continue”, he said.

Police said SWAT teams arrested a man and two women in the town of Alsdorf on Tuesday after authorities received a tip from the public that the man might be Salah Abdeslam, a key suspect sought in the attacks.

All told, at least four French citizens were among the seven attackers.

That’s in addition to another known accomplice – Salah Abdeslam, 26, who remains the subject of a global dragnet. Three members of the Amimour family were detained on Monday. She said telephone records confirmed his presence there.

Speaking to reporters at the residence of the United States ambassador to France, Mr Kerry said the ceasefire envisioned by the political process agreed upon in Vienna on Saturday would exponentially help efforts to fight the IS group, as well as end the drawn-out Syrian conflict, which has gone on for over four years. We’re weeks away conceivably from the possibility of a big transition for Syria, and I don’t think enough people necessarily notice that.

Obama said in Manila on Wednesday he wanted Moscow to shift its focus from propping up Syria’s government to fighting Islamic State and would discuss that with Putin.