IS jihadists have said they carried out the attacks that left a trail of destruction at the packed Bataclan venue, restaurants and bars, and outside the Stade de France national stadium. His military backed up the statement by pounding ISIS targets in Syria with airstrikes.
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Police in the western German town of Alsdorf arrested seven people – five men and two women – Tuesday in connection with the Paris attacks after receiving a report of suspicious persons.
“He appears to be the brains behind several planned attacks in Europe”, the source told Reuters of Abdelhamid Abaaoud, adding he was investigators’ best lead as the person likely behind the killing of at least 129 people in Paris on Friday. His brother, Ibrahim Abdeslam, is also believed to have taken part in the attacks. A University of Chicago professor said the attacks are a sign of ISIS retaliating against the countries that oppose it. His current whereabouts are unknown. The 26-year-old was apparently spoken to by officers on Saturday morning when they pulled over a vehicle carrying three people near the Belgian border.
Mostefai was a 29-year-old French citizen who authorities had previously identified as at risk for radicalization, although that designation was never acted upon.
Among those released without charge was Mohamed Abdeslam, the brother of one of the dead suicide bombers and another suspect who is still at large.
Meanwhile, the search has intensified for a Belgian associated with the Paris attacks who may be also linked to other thwarted terror attacks in France.
Another suicide bomber found outside the soccer stadium had the passport of Ahmad Al Mohammed, 25, of Idlib, Syria. He also addressed a controversial bill that he says will ensure that British authorities have powers to follow terrorist movements by tracking and intercepting communications.
A bar registered to older brother Ibrahim was shut down on suspicion of drug-related offenses eight days before the Paris attacks, according to Molenbeek Mayor Francoise Schepmans.
French President Francois Hollande says his country “is at war” after three teams of gun-wielding ISIS suicide bombers hit six busy locations.
Speaking after leading a meeting of the Government’s Cobra emergency committee, Home Secretary Theresa May said the United Kingdom authorities were working to find anyone involved in the “barbaric attacks” in the French capital. Independent activists reported seven strikes and at least three major explosions in the city. Officials in six states say they’ll continue accepting Syria’s refugees. Brussels has issued an global arrest warrant for him while the French police have issued a wanted poster for him.
The attacks “were organized in Belgium and perpetrated on our soil with French complicity with one specific goal: to sow fear and to divide us”, Hollande told parliament in a rare joint session convened at the Palace of Versailles.
Belgium has stepped up its national alert level to three on a four tiered scale.
– The Russian Metrojet plane jet that crashed over the Sinai last month was brought down by a bomb estimated to contain 1 kilogram (2.2 pounds) of explosives, the head of the Russian Federal Security Service said. Another man is on the loose, believed to be in Belgium and yet another, thought to be in Syria, has recently been identified as the “mastermind” of the attacks.
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Over 150 police raids have been carried out in France overnight, the country’s Prime Minister has said. Iraqi intelligence officials said the attacks on Paris had been planned in Raqqa, according to the AP. He said, “Those who organized these attacks and those that perpetrated them are exactly those that the refugees are fleeing”. They’ve also spurred pledges of support from around the globe, while skepticism of Syrian refugees is sprouting in a number of American states.
