Paris: A woman blew herself up and a suspected jihadist was killed Wednesday in a massive police assault in Paris targeting the possible mastermind of France’s worst-ever terror attacks.
Gunfire and explosions rocked the Saint-Denis area in the north of the city, near the Stade de France stadium, from before dawn as terrified residents were evacuated or told to stay in their homes.
After the raid, white-suited forensic experts swarmed the building as police tried to verify if Abdelhamid Abaaoud, the suspected mastermind of Friday’s attacks in Paris that killed 129 people, had been in the apartment.
Meanwhile, the French Ambassador has been quoted as telling a television channel that they have indications that Abaaoud was dead.
“We have indications that Abbaod committed suicide in today’s operation,” Ambassador Francois Richier said.
“We are waiting for final confirmation that Abdelhamid Abaaoud is dead. We have heard that Abaaoud committed suicide in today’s operation,” he added.
Authorities arrested seven people and five police officers suffered minor injuries in the operation – a seven-hour stand-off between security forces and a group of people holed up in an apartment.
Black-clad elite police were seen hauling away a naked suspect in the streets near where three suicide bombers blew themselves up outside the football stadium at the start of Friday’s attacks.
Paris prosecutor Francois Molins said a probe into the attacks allowed police “to obtain telephonic surveillance and witness testimony which led us to believe that Abaaoud was likely to be in an… apartment in Saint-Denis”. Agencies