Two suspected extremists were killed, including a woman who blew herself up, in a shootout Wednesday in north Paris with police hunting the mastermind of last week’s attacks on the French capital, sources said.
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Paris attack suspect Salah Abdeslam a Belgian-based Frenchman, is sought by French police, who say he played a central role in planning and executing the attacks in Paris.
Authorities arrested seven people, while five police officers suffered minor injuries in the operation which turned into a seven-hour stand-off between security forces and a group of people holed up in an apartment.
The operation was underway in the “very centre” of the city, Saint-Denis Mayor Didier Paillard told BFMTV, nothing that residents are advised to stay at home.
Public transport was suspended in the operation zone. Nonstop. There were grenades.
The alliance comes as global players meet to discuss ways of ending the Syrian war, which has spurred the rise of the Islamic State group, forced millions into exile and triggered Europe’s worst migrant crisis since World War II.
Five police were wounded and a SWAT team dog was killed in the intense gunbattle during which the third floor of the apartment building collapsed.
The anti-terrorist operation is believed to be linked to Friday’s deadly attacks that killed 129 people.
The site is less than two kilometres (just over a mile) from the Stade de France stadium, which was targeted by three suicide bombers during Friday’s attacks.
The hunt for the mastermind of last week’s attacks took a bloody turn Wednesday to a Paris suburb where a fierce gunbattle with police left at least two people dead and eight arrested.
Resident Fabien Crombe said gunshots had broken out repeatedly since the police operation began, punctuated by silence and the sound of sirens.
Another source said a special armed response unit took part in the raid, which comes as Europe was on high alert after footage from the scene of one of Friday’s attacks revealed a ninth suspect may have taken part.
Surveillance video obtained by the AP also indicated that a team of three attackers carried out the shootings at one of the cafes.
The brief clip shows two black-clad gunmen with automatic weapons calmly firing on the bar then returning toward a waiting auto, whose driver was manoeuvring behind them. Authorities believe the auto is the same black Seat-make vehicle that was found on Saturday with three Kalashnikovs inside.
Police have identified one subject of their manhunt as Salah Abdeslam, whom French police accidentally permitted to cross into Belgium on Saturday. One of his brothers, Brahim, blew himself up in Paris.
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Associated Press writers Jamey Keaten, Angela Charlton and Jill Lawless in Paris contributed.
