On Sunday, another Turkish official also told the French news agency AFP that security forces there had foiled an Islamic State group attack in Istanbul that was planned to take place in the same style and on the same day as the Paris attacks.
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As France intensified its air strikes overnight on suspected IS power bases in Syria, police struggled to achieve a breakthrough in their hunt for militants who survived Friday’s assaults.
French President Francois Hollande called on Monday for a united front with the United States and Russian Federation to crack down on the Islamic State group.
These have led to 23 arrests and the seizure of 31 weapons, including a rocket launcher.
– Five of seven people detained over the weekend in Belgium were released by a judge, officials said. In December 2014 and in June, Turkey requested more information on Mostefai, but France did not respond, the official said.
The official cited chatter from IS figures that Abaaoud had recommended a concert as an ideal target for inflicting maximum casualties, as well as electronic communications between Abaaoud and one of the Paris attackers who blew himself up.
Le Monde reported that Salah Abdeslam’s older brother, Ibrahim, was the suicide bomber whose explosives detonated at a cafe on boulevard Voltaire in eastern Paris during the wave of attacks on the city.
Arriving for talks in Brussels with his European Union counterparts, Greek Defense Minister Panagiotis Kammenos told reporters that the Paris attacks were a game-changer for the bloc.
Belgian police said that two people arrested on Saturday had been charged with “participating in a terrorist attack”.
Isis has boasted of carrying out the attacks on bars, restaurants, a concert hall and a stadium, in which 129 people died.
Moroccan Ayoub El Khazzani who in August attacked passengers on a train travelling from Amsterdam to Paris before being overpowered by three Americans, was on the list, thanks to warnings from Spanish and Belgian authorities who had alerted the French.
Another brother, Mohammed Abdeslam, spoke to CNN affiliate BFMTV after his release from custody, saying his parents were in shock.
He said that “the majority of those who were involved in this attack were unknown to our services”. It emerged that in October 2012, after an aborted attempt to go to Yemen, Amimour was questioned and placed under judicial control for association with people involved in terrorism.
France and Belgium staged dozens of raids on suspected extremists as the manhunt continued for an eighth jihadist, including in a known radical hotspot in Brussels where a few of the attackers are thought to have lived. We found out about it in the same way as many of you. We did not think for one moment that one of my brothers was linked to the attacks. “Our family owes everything to this country”, he said.
“My name and picture were all over the news yet I was able to stay in their homeland, plan operations against them, and leave safely when doing so became necessary”, said Abaaoud, who is identified in the magazine as Abu Umar al-Baljiki.
With Hollande, Kerry said the civilized world must boost its efforts to combat the Islamic State by going after the group at its core.
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CIA Director John Brennan warned on Monday that Islamic State militants may have similar operations ready to launch, but foiling those plots could prove hard because Europe’s intelligence and security resources are severely stretched.
