Suspected mastermind of attacks in Paris among those killed in raid
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THE Belgian jihadi suspected of masterminding the deadly attacks in Paris died along with his cousin in a police raid on a suburban apartment building in Paris, officials said yesterday.
Paris Prosecutor Francois Molins’ office said 27-year-old Abdelhamid Abaaoud was identified based on skin samples, but authorities did not know how he died. His body was found in the apartment building targeted in the chaotic and bloody raid on Wednesday in the Paris suburb of Saint-Denis.
Three police officials said the woman who died in the raid was Abaaoud’s cousin. One said Hasna Aitboulahcen is believed to have detonated a suicide vest after a brief conversation with police officers.
The official confirmed an audio recording, punctuated by gunshots, in which an officer asks: “Where is your boyfriend?” and she responded angrily: “He’s not my boyfriend!” Then loud bangs are heard.
The exact relationship between Abaaoud and Aitboulahcen was not clear.
The bodies recovered in the raid were badly mangled, with a part of Aitboulahcen’s spine landing on a police car, complicating formal identification, an official said.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity as they were not permitted to divulge details of the investigation.
Police launched the operation after receiving information from tapped phone calls, surveillance and tipoffs suggesting that Abaaoud was holed up there. Eight people were arrested in the raid.
With France still reeling from the Friday attacks that killed 129 people and wounded hundreds of others, Prime Minister Manuel Valls warned yesterday that Islamic extremists might at some point use chemical or biological weapons, and urged lawmakers to extend a national state of emergency by three months.
“Terrorism hit France not because of what it is doing in Iraq and Syria ... but for what it is,” Valls told the lower house of Parliament.
Elsewhere in Europe, jittery leaders and law enforcement moved to protect their populations as Rob Wainwright, director of the European Union’s police coordination organization Europol, warned of “a very serious escalation” of the terror threat in Europe.
In Italy, Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni said law enforcement was searching for five people flagged by the FBI in response to a United States warning about potential targets following the Paris attacks.
The State Department on Wednesday issued a warning that Saint Peter’s Basilica in Rome, Milan’s cathedral and La Scala opera house had been identified as “potential targets.”
In Belgium, where many of the Paris attackers lived, Prime Minister Charles Michel announced a package of additional anti-terror measures and said 400 million euros (US$427 million) would be earmarked to expand the fight.
He told lawmakers that security personnel will be increased and special attention will be paid to eradicating messages of hate.
Authorities in the Brussels region yesterday launched six raids linked to Bilal Hadfi, one of the three suicide bombers who blew themselves up outside the Stade de France.
An official in the Belgian federal prosecutor’s office, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the actions were focusing on Hadfi’s “entourage.”
French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius urged the international community to do more to eradicate the Islamic State group, which claimed responsibility for the bombings and shootings in Paris.
Speaking on France-Inter radio, he said the group “is a monster. But if all the countries in the world aren’t capable of fighting against 30,000 people (IS members), it’s incomprehensible.”
France has stepped up its airstrikes in Syria. Military spokesman Colonel Gilles Jaron said yesterday that forces have destroyed 35 Islamic State targets since the Paris attacks.
Next week, French President Francois Hollande is going to Washington and Moscow to push for a stronger international coalition against IS. Speaking after the siege in Saint-Denis, he said that France is “at war” with the Islamic State group.
In its English-language magazine, Islamic State said it will continue its violence and “retaliate with fire and bloodshed” for insults against the Prophet Muhammad and “the multitudes killed and injured in crusader airstrikes.”
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