Authorities in Belgium have launched six raids in the Brussels region linked to Paris suicide bomber Bilal Hadfi.
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At least 129 people were killed in the shootings and suicide bombings that targeted a concert hall, bars and restaurants and the Stade de France national stadium, Europe’s second deadliest terror attack in history after the 2004 Madrid bombings.
The raid, in which the police fired over 5,000 bullets, left Abaaoud’s body so riddled with bullet and explosion wounds that he had to be identified through fingerprint analysis.
A third body has been found in an apartment raided by police searching for suspects in last week’s Paris attacks, prosecutors said.
French authorities say police have conducted 793 raids since last week’s attacks.
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.
The French National Assembly on Thursday approved a state of emergency extension for three months that will move to the Senate on Friday, where approval is expected. “But we know and bear in mind that there is also a risk of chemical or bacteriological weapons”, Valls said in a Thursday speech to lawmakers.
A Spanish security official said French authorities had sent a bulletin to police across Europe asking them to watch out for a Citroen Xsara vehicle that could be carrying Salah Abdeslam, whose brother, Brahim, was among the attackers who blew themselves up.
“It was a big surprise when the intelligence came in”, said a police official, speaking on condition of anonymity because the information was sensitive. This is under a police directive issued to coincide with the state of emergency. France is urging its European partners to dramatically toughen EU borders to prevent more terrorist attacks.
France’s Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve has called on Europe to “wake up” to the threat posed by Islamic State and take steps to ensure the safety of citizens.
“This is a major failing”, said Roland Jaquard of the worldwide Observatory for Terrorism.
“We must not rule anything out”, he said.
A few of the Paris attackers exploited Europe’s refugee crisis to “slip in” to France unnoticed, the country’s prime minister has said.
The names of those killed have begun to surface in the days since the massacre.
French President Francois Hollande has ordered to step up airstrikes against IS in Syria and Iraq.
Writing at 2paragraphs.com, Bretton-Gordon continued, “Virtually every foreign jihadi who returns to the US or United Kingdom will have been exposed to training of this sort and will have a reasonable idea on how to use chlorine and other toxic chemicals as a terror weapon”.
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Raf Casert and John-Thor Dahlburg in Brussels; Lori Hinnant, Angela Charlton and Jamey Keaten in Paris; and Bassem Mroue also contributed.
