Paris Attacks 'Ringleader' Abaaoud Fate Unknown - Molins

November 19, 2015

The Paris prosecutor has said the fate of the suspected organiser of Friday's attacks remains unknown after a police raid on a flat ended in bloodshed.

Francois Molins told reporters Abdelhamid Abaaoud was not among eight people arrested during the raid in the Paris suburb of Saint Denis.

However, human remains found in the rubble of the flat had still to be identified, he said.

A woman blew herself up and another suspect was shot dead during the raid.

The building was so badly damaged that it is unclear if there is a third body in the rubble, an interior ministry spokesman said.

Abaaoud is said to have organised Friday's gun and bomb attacks in Paris, when 129 people were killed.

All of the victims of the attacks - which targeted a concert hall, cafes and the Stade de France stadium and were claimed by the so-called Islamic State (IS) group - have now been identified, the government says.

Molins said the police operation in Saint Denis had foiled a new attack, stopping a "new terrorist cell" that appeared to be ready to strike.

"At this time, I'm not in a position to give a precise and definitive number for the people who died, nor their identities, but there are at least two dead people," he added.

However, Salah Abdeslam, a 26-year-old French national identified as a suspect in Friday's attacks, was not among them, he said - nor was Abdelhamid Abaaoud.

(BBC)