He is one of three brothers believed to be involved in the killings; one was arrested in Belgium and another died in the attack, the first official said.
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Speaking after leading a meeting of the Government’s Cobra emergency committee, Home Secretary Theresa May said the United Kingdom authorities were working to find anyone involved in the “barbaric attacks” in the French capital.
Two of the terrorists killed in Friday’s attacks were Frenchmen who had lived in Brussels and so far Belgian police have arrested seven people.
French police said on Sunday they were searching for 26-year-old Belgium-born Abdeslam Salah in connection with the attacks.
Almost all the French, Iraqi and US officials providing information for this story spoke on condition of anonymity because they lack authorization to share details publicly.
Then three men burst into the Bataclan concert hall in the centre of the city where they indiscriminately shot 85 people.
Ayoub el Kahzani, a Moroccan who was thwarted in his attempt to attack passengers on a high-speed train traveling between Brussels and Paris in August is also thought to have lived there for a while.
Abdeslam is one of three brothers who have become the focus of the investigation, Le Monde reported Sunday. According to the French newspaper, one of Salam’s brothers detonated his suicide belt on the Boulevard Voltaire during the attacks. One of his brothers had detonated a suicide vest down the street from the theater; another was ultimately detained in Belgium, officials said. As France observes three days of national mourning members of the public continue to pay tribute to the victims of Friday’s deadly attacks.
An Iraqi intelligence dispatch warned that Islamic State group leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi had ordered his followers to immediately launch gun and bomb attacks and take hostages inside the countries of the coalition fighting them in Iraq and Syria.
The official said the seven people who were detained will hear later Sunday whether they will be held in custody longer. A hunt is on for an eighth man, intelligence sources said, and hours later, Abdeslam’s name and photo were released. “There is no place for them in Belgium”, Michel said on Twitter.
According to a source close to the inquiry, the third team carried out three shooting attacks on several bars and restaurants in central Paris at 9:25pm, 9:32pm and 9:36pm, firing hundreds of bullets. Videos have shown terrified people scrambling out of a door and hanging out of windows to escape the violence.
Three Kalashnikov assault rifles were discovered inside a Seat auto used in the attacks which was found in the suburb of Montreuil, four miles east of Paris.
It is believed the man may have been shipping the weapons – which included a kilogram of explosives – to Paris when he was intercepted.
Jan Jambon, the Belgian federal home affairs minister, says the country is a “weak link” in Europe’s struggle against terrorism and expressed alarm at the way extremists have been able to use modern technology to plan atrocities and avoid detection.
The Associated Press reported that Abdeslam eluded capture during an encounter with French law enforcement shortly after the attacks.
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Seven attackers are known to have died during the attacks in the 10th and 11th arrondissements of Paris and at the Stade de France, the country’s biggest sports stadium, in the northern suburb of St Denis.
