French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve confirmed that two people died in early morning police raids today targeting Abdelhamid Abaaoud, the suspected mastermind behind the Paris attacks.
Cellphone records and surveillance gathered since Friday’s attack led police to believe the alleged mastermind of the attacks may have been in an apartment in Saint-Denis, Paris prosecutor Francois Molins said today. He was not there.
French President Francois Hollande said the aim of the raids overnight were to “neutralize” terrorists linked to the attacks on Friday.
The operation started with shootings at 4:30 a.m., officials said. It first resulted in the arrest of three people inside an apartment. At that point, a woman triggered a suicide vest.
Another person died from a projectile and grenade, officials said. Two others were arrested, as well as the person who rented the apartment and a friend. The police are not identifying any of those arrested.
Seven arrests were made in the course of the raids in Saint-Denis.
Five police officers were lightly wounded during the raids, according to French National Police, and a police dog was killed.
Searches are still underway and a heavy police presence remains in place, but a French government spokesperson confirms that the raids are now over.
President Obama was briefed on the raids by his national security team, an NSC official told ABC News.
Witnesses reported ongoing gunfire starting at around 4:30 a.m. local time in Saint-Denis, not far from the Stade de France, one of the targets in Friday’s terrorist attacks.
A number of residents in the area were offered safe refuge in City Hall, but police asked that everyone stay inside with windows closed, according to a press officer with the Saint-Denis Mayor’s office. Schools and shops in the area are to remain closed.
More than 100 raids have been conducted in France in recent days as part of an emergency anti-terror crackdown, but were not related to the terror attacks.
Yea, this reminds me of those staged “Afterattacks” after 9/11 such as the so-called fake terrorists in Lackawanna, NY (the “Lackawanna 6”, if I remember correctly) which were just miles away from where I lived back then.
They are definitely trying to turn this into the France 9/11 all over again and the whole 3 month extension of France’s Martial Law proves it.
Same tactics, different country.