Share

Third body found at scene of French police shootout with Paris attackers

“We can’t take more time”.

Advertisement

“There is a clear link between security of the external borders, the EU’s external borders, and security within the European Union”, British interior minister Theresa May told reporters.

Belgium police are still investigating ties between Brussels and the attack. France has only said it got the information from a country outside Europe.

Cazeneuve said the 28-nation bloc must move forward on a long-delayed system for collecting and exchanging airline passenger information, data he said is vital “for tracing the return of foreign fighters” from Syria and Iraq.

Ministers, however, were not expected to order any new measures that could be immediately introduced.

Iraqi officials told the Associated Press that intelligence officials had warned France of a potential attack one day before the Paris assault.

But Parisians spontaneously came together outside the restaurants, cafes and concert hall hit in the attacks – as they have all week – to leave flowers, light candles or hold quiet vigils.

“We must move swiftly and with force”, French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said.

Abaaoud was involved in four attack plots foiled in France this year, Cazeneuve has said. “There were many people who didn’t take it seriously, but effectively it was confirmed”.

The death of Abaaoud did little to calm European unease about the specter of more attacks, however.

The attacks on the capital were launched by three suicide bombers outside the Stade de France where France were playing Germany in an global football match.

REUTERS/Benoit TessierA French police officer, left, and a CRS riot police officer securing the scene at the raid zone in Saint-Denis, near Paris, on Wednesday to catch fugitives from last Friday night’s deadly attacks in the French capital.PARIS – Three people were killed in a police raid early Wednesday targeting the suspected mastermind of the Paris attacks, the prosecutors office said on Friday.

The identity of the third body was not disclosed.

His cousin, Hasna Aitboulahcen, 26, was one of those killed. “We don’t know at this point in the investigation if there are groups, individuals, who are directly linked to the attack on Friday evening”. His brother, Brahim, was one of the Paris suicide bombers.

Paris prosecutor Francois Molins said Abaaoud was traced to the apartment in Saint-Denis through phone taps and surveillance. News of his death seemed to ease a few tension in a country deeply shocked by the attacks.

A video purporting to be issued by the Islamic State armed group, which has claimed responsibliity for the Paris attacks, on Thursday threatened more attacks on France and also said that the group would “blow up” the White House.

French officials said Friday a third body was found in the rubble of Wednesday’s pre-dawn raid in which the suspected ringleader of the Paris attacks was killed, as Paris engaged in a multi-pronged diplomatic push to tighten security at European borders and redouble the global effort to combat the Islamic State. The ceremony will be held at the gold-domed Hotel des Invalides, where Napoleon’s tomb lies and which is seen as a symbol of France’s military and global strength.

Advertisement

Under grey skies and rain, Parisians marked a week since the bloodbath with silence and reflection. A gathering at France’s oldest mosque to show inter-community solidarity was canceled Friday because of security fears.

Top suspect in Paris attacks and accomplice confirmed dead