Third Bataclan attacker identified as Frenchman who had gone to Syria

Citing a source close to the investigation into the deadly attacks, they reported the man went to Syria with his brother and a group of friends at the end of 2013.

A police official says a text message to a woman announcing her son’s death in the November 13 attacks on Paris led authorities to identify the third attacker in the Bataclan concert hall. The second attacker has been named Ismail Omar Mostefai, a 29-year-old Frenchman from Algerian parents who lived in Charters, located 96 km (60 mi) southwest of the French capital. He was identified late last week after his DNA was matched with those of his family, Agence France-Presse, the French news agency, reported.

Mohamed-Aggad arrived in Syria around the same time as the other two Bataclan attackers, also French citizens, and the arrival of now-deceased Abdelhamid Abaaoud, the suspected planner of the attack.

“She was terror-struck by the idea that he could have been one of suicide attackers at the Bataclan”, Cotta added, and went straight to the police.

One of the attackers remains unidentified, and two of the suicide bombers at the soccer stadium are believed to have been carrying fake passports. “The family had not heard from him since August”, said Cotta.

The assailant was identified as Foued Mohamed-Aggad, a 23-year-old French national who had been radicalized in Syria since he visited the country two years ago. Fares had been arrested previous year in Turkey and is being prosecuted for offenses relating to terrorism in Syria and France, according to BBC News.

She told The Associated Press that Mohamed-Aggad was flagged as a radical but there was no warrant for his arrest. Police say all but Salah, who is thought to still be on the run, have been killed in police raids.

A radio reporter who attended the Bataclan concert described the attackers there as calm and determined, telling CNN they reloaded their weapons three or four times.

All were French nationals.

His father told reporters that his son, who was born and grew up in France, had been brainwashed and become another person. The attack was claimed by ISIS.

“What kind of human being would do what he did?” his father told reporters on Wednesday. The group returned to France in 2014, said Thomson.

But Aggad stayed on in Syria, the police source said.