Paris attacks mastermind confirmed dead in seven-hour siege, as France warns of chemical attacks by Islamic State
France extends state of emergency to three months as Belgium carries out more raids linked to Friday’s terror attacks
The suspected mastermind of the attacks that killed 129 in Paris was among those killed in a police raid in a suburb of the French capital, the Paris prosecutor said in a statement on Thursday.
Paris attacks ringleader Abdelhamid Abaaoud was also implicated in four thwarted French terror plots this year, a minister said on Thursday, deploring the fact that no-one had flagged his presence in Europe.
“Six attacks have been avoided or foiled by the French services since spring 2015. Abaaoud was implicated in four of them,” Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve told reporters, shortly after the Islamic State jihadist's death was confirmed by French prosecutors' office.
Abaaoud, a 28-year-old Belgian militant, who had boasted of mounting attacks in Europe for the Islamic State, was accused of orchestrating Friday’s coordinated bombings and shootings in the French capital, which killed 129 people.
Police originally thought he was in Syria, but their investigations led them to a house in the Paris suburb of St. Denis and heavily armed officers stormed the building before dawn, triggering a massive firefight and multiple explosions.
“Abdelhamid Abaaoud has just been formally identified... as having been killed during the raid” in a northern Paris suburb on Wednesday, the prosecutor said in a statement.