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             Status of Paris Attacks Mastermind Unknown After Raid

   by Lisa Bryant

   It was still unclear Thursday whether the mastermind of last week's
   attacks in Paris was one of the people inside an apartment stormed
   Wednesday in a seven-hour raid by French police.

   Paris Prosecutor Francois Molins has said only that Abdelhamid Abaaoud,
   a Belgian national of Moroccan descent, was not among the eight people
   arrested during the operation in Saint-Denis.

   "As of now, the identities of those who were arrested in the building
   are not yet formally known, but I can specify that Abdelhamid Abaaoud
   and [fugitive attacker] Salah Abdeslam are not among those we have in
   custody," he said Wednesday.

   Molins said at least two people were killed, but would not give a
   precise number.  Early reports said a woman who detonated an explosives
   vest was killed and another body was found in the rubble riddled with
   bullets that made it immediately unidentifiable.  Three police officers
   were wounded and a police dog was killed during the raid.

   Molins said the raid was of "extreme difficulty" and nearly 5,000
   rounds of munitions were fired into the apartment.

   He said the suspected Islamist militants were a terror unit capable of
   planning a new attack and that the raid was called after phone taps and
   surveillance information led authorities to believe Abaaoud might have
   been in the apartment.

   "A new team of terrorists was neutralized and all indications are that
   given their arms, their organizational structure and their
   determination, the commando could have struck," Molins said.

   The raid took place about 2 kilometers from the football (soccer)
   stadium that was one of the sites attacked last week.

   ''

   'At war' with terrorism

   Shortly after the Wednesday's siege ended, French President Francois
   Hollande said France is "at war" with terrorism, but warned against
   overreactions. "No xenophobic, anti-Semite, anti-Muslim act must be
   tolerated," he said.

   Hollande urged people to defy terrorists by resuming life in full, and
   promised increased security to ensure popular sites can reopen. France
   will "remain a country of freedoms," he said.

   Speaking to a gathering of French mayors, Hollande said he wants to
   build a large coalition to target the Islamic State militants, and he
   outlined a series of measures to fight the group, which has claimed
   responsibility for the attack.

   Hollande is scheduled to discuss ways to intensify the campaign
   targeting IS with U.S. President Barack Obama next week in Washington,
   and is to meet November 26 with Russian President Vladimir Putin in
   Moscow.

   ''He has proposed modifying the French constitution to better deal with
   terrorism and other crises, such as allowing dual nationals to be
   stripped of their French citizenship if they were convicted of
   terrorism.

   Hollande also said a bill to extend France's state of emergency for
   three months includes a measure that enables authorities to close "any
   association or gathering," which includes mosques and community groups,
   where people are "glorifying terrorism" or encouraging people to carry
   out terrorist acts.

   A parliamentary vote on the measure, which has drawn criticism from
   rights advocates, is expected by the end of the week.

   In the meantime, the French government has canceled two rallies planned
   during the upcoming climate conference.

   Hollande said, however, France will keep its promise to take in 30,000
   refugees over the next two years. But, he said their backgrounds would
   be checked thoroughly to ensure they do not pose a threat.

   Syrian airstrikes

   French warplanes mounted a third day of airstrikes against the militant
   group in Syria, targeting its de facto capital in Raqqa. The Defense
   Ministry said 10 of its jets took part in the latest airstrikes and
   bombed two command centers.

   The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Wednesday 33
   Islamic State members had been killed by French and other military
   airstrikes in the past three days.

   Hollande said the French aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle is being
   sent to aid French military operations against the Islamic State group.

   ''

   The investigation

   Fugitive Salah Abdeslam and his brother Ibrahim, who died during the
   attacks, rented three cars from Belgium to carry out the Paris
   operations, police said.  They found them in different spots around the
   capital and outskirts, with a stash of assault weapons.

   They also found a cell phone in a garbage can near the Bataclan music
   hall, where the bloodiest attack took place, with a text message
   reading, "Let's go."

   French police have carried out 414 raids and made 60 arrests, while
   seizing 75 weapons since last Friday.

   In addition, 118 others have been placed under house arrest, another of
   the new powers permitted under France's state of emergency that was
   declared Saturday.

   Officials said Wednesday that all 129 victims of the attacks last
   Friday have been identified.

   Mia Bush and Chris Hannas contributed to this report from Washington.
     __________________________________________________________________

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   known-after-raid/3064678.html

References

   1. http://www.voanews.com/content/status-of-paris-attacks-mastermind-unknown-after-raid/3064678.html