The official confirmed an audio recording, punctuated by gunshots, in which an officer asks: “Where is your boyfriend?” and she responds angrily: “He’s not my boyfriend!” Then loud bangs are heard.
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His body – so riddled with bullets and shrapnel investigators could only identify him by his fingerprints. “They are letting no one enter or go out”, a resident of the town told AFP on condition of anonymity.
He had been thought to be in Syria but French authorities launched Wednesday’s raid after having been led there by a tip-off and telephone surveillance suggesting Abaaoud was in France.
Eight suspects were arrested and two were found dead at the end of the assault, the second body was believed to be that of 26-year-old Hasna Aitboulahcen.
As the Paris probe widened to countries across Europe, Belgian police arrested nine people in Brussels, seven of them in raids linked to a suicide bomber who blew himself up outside the French national stadium last Friday, prosecutors said.
An official in the Belgian federal prosecutor’s office told The Associated Press the raids were taking place in the suburb of Molenbeek and other areas of Brussels. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation is continuing, said the actions were focusing on Hadfi’s “entourage”.
Prime Minister Manuel Valls had pressed for the state of emergency extension, warning that Islamic extremists might at use chemical or biological weapons. It was the largest terrorist event in a Western country since ISIS rose to power in Syria and Iraq. “There is also the risk from chemical or biological weapons”, Valls said.
After five nights of raids, authorities says police have detained 90 people and seized 174 weapons, including 18 military-style firearms, 84 rifles and 68 handguns.
The Islamic State jihadist group claims responsibility, saying the attacks were in revenge for French air strikes on its targets in Syria. Attorney Nathalie Gallant said father Omar Abaaoud thinks his son was a “psychopath” and a “devil”, and he feels guilty about his son’s radicalization.
Valls also called on Europe to urgently adopt measures to share airline passenger information in the wake of the terror attacks in Paris. Abaaoud is also suspected by the Belgian authorities of helping to organize and fund a terror cell in eastern Belgium that was targeted in a police raid in January.
“All democratic forces have to work together to strengthen our security”, Michel told lawmakers.
Jean-Marc Falcone, speaking Friday on France-Info radio, said he is unable to say if Salah Abdeslam could be back on French territory. “But if all the countries in the world aren’t capable of fighting against 30,000 people (IS members), it’s incomprehensible”.
He had been linked to a number of terror attacks, including a shooting at a Jewish museum in Brussels in May past year that killed four and a foiled attack on a Paris-bound train in August.
French President Francois Hollande is going to Washington and Moscow next week to push for a stronger worldwide coalition against IS.
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”.
“We must not rule anything out”, he said in a speech to the French parliament. “We’re off, it’s started”, it read. One, local media said, was Abaaoud’s own 13-year-old brother.
A French intelligence source said: “Obviously, many questions will be asked in the coming months as to how such a well known and prolific offender could cross borders and plan an attack from within Paris without any alarms being set off”.
Molins said investigators were still trying to identify the recipient of the message.
The official, not authorized to be publicly named discussing an ongoing investigation, says Abdelhamid Abaaoud was seen at the Croix de Chavaux metro station in the suburb of Montreuil at 10:14 p.m. on November 13.
He said the three cars found in Paris after the attacks were rented by the Abdesalam brothers in Belgium and arrived “in convoy” on the eve of the attacks.
Hollande urges the nation not to “give in to fear” or excessive reactions.
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Most demonstrations have been banned in Paris since the attacks, but Parisians have been spontaneously gathering outside the restaurants, cafes and concert halls hit in the attacks all week to leave flowers, light candles or hold quiet vigils. People there are determined to embrace the things that make life worth living: food, wine and friends.
