Paris suburb erupts with gunfire, explosions

PARIS (AA) Two suspects, including a woman with explosives were killed at the end of a police raid at an apartment in Saint-Denis, a suburb in northern Paris, Wednesday morning, French interior minister announced. Speaking at the scene of the raid, Bernard Cazeneuve said that seven suspects had been arrested. "Seven people were arrested, two people were killed, including a woman with explosives…We will continue in the coming days [in connection with the investigation] our action against terrorists," Cazeneuve said. Paris Prosecutor Francois Molins said that the raid was conducted following a phone tipoff about the presence of suspect Abdelhamid Abbaoud, the alleged mastermind of Friday's attacks. Molins said that two of the people arrested included "the one who provided the housing and one of his friends". Earlier, the Paris Prosecutor’s Office released a statement about five arrests. "One woman who was holed up in the apartment, who activated her explosive vest at the beginning of the raid, is dead. Three people who were in the apartment have been arrested. Their identities are still being unidentified. Two other people were also arrested separately, a man and a woman who were nearby the apartment," the statement said. Heavy gunfire and explosions were reported from a flat in Saint-Denis since 4.30 a.m., local time (330GMT), when the police operation, said to be linked with the search for a fugitive "ninth attacker" in Friday’s attacks, commenced. French government's spokesperson Stephane Le Foll also confirmed the end of the raid. French police said that five police officers were slightly injured during the raid. Also, a police dog, named Diesel, a seven-year-old Belgian Malinois SWAT team assault dog, was "killed by terrorists", police added. French military forces were also deployed on the streets of Saint-Denis during the raid. At least three military trucks were seen at the site. Earlier, Didier Paillard, mayor of Saint-Denis, said that the operation was taking place in Rue de la Republique in the center of Saint-Denis, close to the Basilica. Paillard said that all roads leading to the site of the operation had been shut, adding that schools in the suburb will not open for the day. The prosecutors’ statement added that nine family members of the Bataclan concert hall suspected suicide bombers, Omar Ismail Mostefai and Sami Amimour, had been released without charge. - ‘Ninth attacker’ involved Abdelhamid Abaaoud, Salah Abdeslam and a suspect thought to be a ninth attacker are said to be directly involved in Friday’s mass killings. Abaaoud, 27, is believed to be the mastermind behind the Paris attacks on Friday. A Belgian of Moroccan origin, Abbaoud was first identified by police as a wanted extremist after a gunbattle in eastern Belgium in January during a raid on a Daesh cell. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison by a Belgian court earlier this year after being tried in absentia for recruiting for Daesh in Syria. Police found an abandoned black Renault Clio, with Belgian number plates, in the city’s 18th district on Tuesday, which was reportedly hired by Abdeslam, the eighth suspect, who is said to be on the run. Abdeslam reportedly rented a Volkswagen Polo in Belgium that carried some of the attackers to their targets. His brother, Ibrahim, blew himself up near the Bataclan. His other brother, Mohamed, was arrested in Belgium and later released without charge. On Tuesday, French police launched a manhunt for a possible ninth attacker involved in Friday’s attacks in Paris. Seven attackers were killed during Friday’s attacks. Five of them were identified, two still remain unknown and a manhunt continues for the two suspects on the run. Two bombers, Ahmad al-Mohammad and Samy Amimour, are the latest attackers to be identified. Al-Mohammad died at the Stade de France. He was identified through a Syrian passport found at the scene that identified him as a 25-year-old born in Idlib, Paris Prosecutor’s Office said in a statement. The prosecutor said that fingerprints from the attacker matched those of someone who passed through Greece in October but added that the passport is yet to be authenticated. Amimour was one of the Bataclan concert hall bombers. He was aged 28 and lived in Drancy, a northern suburb of Paris. Molins said that he was charged with terror offenses in 2012 after allegedly trying to travel to Yemen and is reported to have gone to Syria in 2013. At least 129 people were killed and dozens of others were injured in multiple gun-and-bomb attacks in Paris Friday night. All of the victims have now been identified, the French government said in statement on Wednesday.