bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

hooksAmpRedirectArticle

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

paywallTypes

createdDate

publishedDate

urlAlias

moreOnThisArticles

sponsorType

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

articleSpeeches

socialHeadline

headline

images

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

sponsor

pdfFiles

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

readingTime

customTimezone

liveContents

Agence France-Presse

A third gunman involved in last month’s massacre at a Paris concert hall has been identified as a Frenchman who had visited Syria, with his father saying he “would have killed him” if he had known his plans.
Foued Mohamed-Aggad, 23, blew himself up in the bloodiest of the attacks on the French capital - at the Bataclan concert venue, where 90 young music lovers were killed.
“I would have killed him myself beforehand,” his father, Said Mohamed-Aggad, said after French Prime Minister Manuel Valls announced the name of the assailant on Wednesday.
“I have no words, I only found out this morning,” he said.
The gunman's mother went to the police after receiving a text message from Syria at the end of last month, her lawyer Francoise Cotta said.
“Your son died a martyr with his brothers on November 13,” read the message, apparently sent by Foued's wife in Syria.
The two other Bataclan attackers - Omar Ismail Mostefai, 29, and former Paris bus driver Samy Amimour, 28 - were also French-born and had been to Syria.
Mohamed-Aggad's brother, Karim, went to Syria with him in 2013 but returned to France in May “because he couldn't take it there,” the lawyer said. He is currently in prison awaiting trial on terror charges.
By contrast, Foued told his mother he was “married and very happy and had just had a child”.
“For him there was no question of coming back to France. He said he wanted to die as a suicide bomber in Iraq. The family had not heard from him since August,” said Cotta.
After getting the text message, his mother was “terror-struck by the idea that he could have been one of the suicide attackers at the Bataclan” so she went straight to the police, the lawyer said.
“If she had not helped like that, they might never have been able to identify Foued,” Cotta said.
Two of the Bataclan assailants, including Mohamed-Aggad, blew themselves up with suicide belts packed with explosives after the killing spree, while the third was shot dead by police who stormed the venue with hundreds of people still inside.
Mohamed-Aggad was identified at the end of last week after his DNA matched a sample offered by his mother, Cotta said.


Third Paris gunman identified; his father says ‘I would have killed him myself’

An unlocated picture posted in 2014 on his facebook account shows Foued Mohamed Aggad, who has been identified as the third bomber involved in the attacks at Paris's Bataclan music hall, police sources said on December 9, 2015. Foued Mohamed Aggad, a 23-year-old man from the eastern French city of Strasbourg, went to Syria with his brother and a group of friends at the end of 2013, according to a source close to the investigation.Ninety people died in the Bataclan attacks on November 13. The two other bombers have been identified as Omar Omar Ismail Mostefai, 29, and 28-year-old Samy Amimour. / AFP / OFF / HO / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - MANDATORY CREDIT "AFP PHOTO / OFF" - NO MARKETING NO ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS - DISTRIBUTED AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS

Foued Mohamed-Aggad, who has been identified as the third gunman involved in the attacks at Paris's Bataclan music hall, is shown in a photo he posted to his Facebook page in 2014. Photo: AFP

News

World