France raid foils new attack; 8 are held

PARIS — As law enforcement officials fanned out across France and Belgium in search of suspects in the deadly bombings and shootings last week, they raced against a chilling possibility: The Islamist militants behind Europe’s worst terrorist attack in more than a decade might be ready to strike again.

On Wednesday, more than 100 heavily armed police and soldiers descended on an apartment building less than a mile from a stadium targeted in Friday’s rampage and traded blistering fire with militants holed up inside.

The massive, hours-long raid in a densely populated suburb north of Paris took down another terrorist squad that was ready to act, authorities said.

Left unclear was the fate of the raid’s intended target: Abdelhamid Abaaoud, a Belgian national of Moroccan descent who is a top external operative for the extremist group Islamic State.

Authorities have described Abaaoud as the likely architect of the attacks that killed at least 129 people and injured hundreds on a night out at cafes and restaurants, a rock concert and a soccer game.

A French prosecutor, Francois Molins, told reporters that Abaaoud was not among eight people taken into custody during the operation in St.-Denis. Neither was a suspected accomplice, Salah Abdeslam.

At least two suspects died during the operation, including a woman who blew herself up with an explosives vest and a person found amid the rubble. But Molins said the fighting was so intense that it would take time to determine whether anyone else was killed and to identify the remains.

A U.S. law enforcement official in Washington, who had been briefed on the operation, said Abaaoud may have been among two suspects who escaped a near-simultaneous raid at another location. But there was no confirmation from French authorities.

The raid, which largely destroyed the three-story apartment house targeted, was launched after authorities received information that Abaaoud might be holed up on the third floor.

Gunfire and explosions reverberated through the neighborhood as SWAT teams descended on the building at 4:20 a.m. The door to the apartment had been reinforced, making it difficult to break down and giving the occupants time to prepare, Molins said.

Police fired more than 5,000 rounds during a gunfight that went on for nearly an hour, he said. The operation ended at midday after a seven-hour siege.

“A new team of terrorists has been neutralized and everything suggests — their armament, their structured organization and their determination — that this commando was ready to act,” Molins said.

Islamic State has claimed responsibility for the Paris attacks.

On Wednesday, the extremist group took an opportunity to boast about both the shootings and bombings in Paris and the downing last month of a Russian airliner over Egypt.

“Like Russia, (France) was blinded by hubris, thinking that its geographical distance … would protect it from the justice of the mujahedeen,” the group said in its English-language publication, Dabiq.

“The Islamic State launched its brave knights to wage war in the homelands of the wicked crusaders, leaving Paris and its residents ‘shocked and awed.’”

The Syria-based group, which is the target of a U.S.-led bombing campaign, also said it had killed a Norwegian and a Chinese captive.

The group had earlier identified the Norwegian man as Ole Johan Grimsgaard-Ofstad, 48, from Oslo, and the Chinese man as Fan Jinghui, 50, a freelance consultant from Beijing.

French President Francois Hollande has declared that his country is “at war” with the group and promised an all-out offensive against extremism. In Paris, authorities presented a bill to the Council of Ministers to extend for three months the state of emergency that Hollande declared Saturday.

The proposed law gives authorities significant powers, including the ability to detain under house arrest anyone whose behavior “constitutes a threat to security and public order.”

It allows authorities to conduct searches in homes, vehicles and public places without a judicial warrant if there is reason to think the location is frequented by someone who is a security threat. Computers and phones at such locations would also be subject to search, including cloud-stored data from such devices.

Authorities believe that the attacks on Paris were initiated by Islamic State’s leadership in Syria and organized in Belgium with the help of French accomplices.

Abaaoud has been linked to several previous plots in Europe and openly bragged in an Islamic State propaganda publication about his ability to elude Western intelligence agencies.

The suspected ringleader appears to operate with trusted foot soldiers linked to Molenbeek St. Jean, a gritty district outside Brussels that has become a hotbed of militant recruits who have traveled to Syria and joined Islamic State and other extremist factions.

The three cars believed to have been used Friday during the rampage arrived in Paris the day before in a convoy from Belgium, Molins said.

A cellphone recovered from a trash can near the Bataclan concert hall, where 89 people were killed, helped lead investigators to safe houses used by the attackers, including one in the northeast suburb of Bobigny and another in the southeast suburb of Alfortville, he said.

Molins shared the final text message sent from the phone at 9:42 p.m. Friday: “We’re off. We have started.”

Residents of St.-Denis, a mostly working-class neighborhood with a large immigrant population, were evacuated and police cordoned off the area where the raid took place.

Five officers were slightly injured in the operation, police said in a statement, and a police dog was killed “by the terrorists.”

French police teams continued their work in the vicinity of the safe house long after the raid ended. Shops remained shuttered on the cobblestone main drag, Rue de la Republique, and many residents were still unable to return to the cordoned-off streets.

“We hear a lot of shooting around here — it’s a pretty dangerous neighborhood — but I never heard anything like this,” said Cesar Quintero, 34, a native of Colombia who, like many others, could not make it to work Wednesday because public transportation had been shut down. “We knew something was going to happen though. There were a lot of police around the last few days.”

Other young men posed for selfies with cellphones outside the police barricades. The international press rushed to the area. News media satellite trucks were parked across from City Hall.

At the central square, Place Victor Hugo, a banner hung after the attacks Friday proclaimed that the best way to confront “barbarity” was for France to face the threat directly “together.” The banner was one of a number of efforts in France to foster solidarity in the aftermath of the attacks.

Authorities have urged people to not be intimidated and to go about their normal lives. Many Parisians have been frequenting cafes and nightspots despite the attacks and fear that other strikes could be imminent. Makeshift memorials of flowers and candles honoring those killed continue to attract mourners and well-wishers, many of whom leave handwritten notes in remembrance of victims.

In another development, French authorities said Wednesday that all 129 people killed in last week’s attacks have been identified. Relatives and friends of the dead have been coming forward to identify the victims. Members of more than 100 families have participated in the identification process, the government said in a statement.

The death toll in France’s deadliest terrorist attack could still rise, authorities said. More than 350 people were injured in the rampage and many remain in critical condition.

Seven suspects died in Friday’s attacks, by suicide bombs or at the hands of police.

Authorities have launched a manhunt for Abdeslam, brother of one of the suicide attackers reported killed in the strikes. Investigators believe yet another suspect may have gotten away after taking part in Friday’s carnage, but the person has not been identified.

Since the attacks, France has stepped up its bombing campaign against Islamic State in Syria. France is part of the U.S.-led coalition that has been attacking the group. Russia has also been conducting a bombing campaign against Islamic State in Syria, as well as hitting other insurgent groups there.

Islamic State, which arose from the chaos of the Syrian conflict, has drawn hundreds of militants from European nations, including France and Belgium.

Talk to us

> Give us your news tips.

> Send us a letter to the editor.

> More Herald contact information.

More in Local News

A firefighter stands in silence before a panel bearing the names of L. John Regelbrugge and Kris Regelbrugge during the ten-year remembrance of the Oso landslide on Friday, March 22, 2024, at the Oso Landslide Memorial in Oso, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
‘Flood of emotions’ as Oso Landslide Memorial opens on 10th anniversary

Friends, family and first responders held a moment of silence at 10:37 a.m. at the new 2-acre memorial off Highway 530.

Julie Petersen poses for a photo with images of her sister Christina Jefferds and Jefferds’ grand daughter Sanoah Violet Huestis next to a memorial for Sanoah at her home on March 20, 2024 in Arlington, Washington. Peterson wears her sister’s favorite color and one of her bangles. (Annie Barker / The Herald)
‘It just all came down’: An oral history of the Oso mudslide

Ten years later, The Daily Herald spoke with dozens of people — first responders, family, survivors — touched by the deadliest slide in U.S. history.

Victims of the Oso mudslide on March 22, 2014. (Courtesy photos)
Remembering the 43 lives lost in the Oso mudslide

The slide wiped out a neighborhood along Highway 530 in 2014. “Even though you feel like you’re alone in your grief, you’re really not.”

Director Lucia Schmit, right, and Deputy Director Dara Salmon inside the Snohomish County Department of Emergency Management on Friday, March 8, 2024, in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
How Oso slide changed local emergency response ‘on virtually every level’

“In a decade, we have just really, really advanced,” through hard-earned lessons applied to the pandemic, floods and opioids.

Ron and Gail Thompson at their home on Monday, March 4, 2024 in Oso, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
In shadow of scarred Oso hillside, mudslide’s wounds still feel fresh

Locals reflected on living with grief and finding meaning in the wake of a catastrophe “nothing like you can ever imagine” in 2014.

The rezoned property, seen here from the Hillside Vista luxury development, is surrounded on two sides by modern neighborhoods Monday, March 25, 2024, in Lake Stevens, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Despite petition, Lake Stevens OKs rezone for new 96-home development

The change faced resistance from some residents, who worried about the effects of more density in the neighborhood.

Rep. Suzan DelBene, left, introduces Xichitl Torres Small, center, Undersecretary for Rural Development with the U.S. Department of Agriculture during a talk at Thomas Family Farms on Monday, April 3, 2023, in Snohomish, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Under new federal program, Washingtonians can file taxes for free

At a press conference Wednesday, U.S. Rep. Suzan DelBene called the Direct File program safe, easy and secure.

Former Snohomish County sheriff’s deputy Jeremie Zeller appears in court for sentencing on multiple counts of misdemeanor theft Wednesday, March 27, 2024, at Snohomish County Superior Court in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Ex-sheriff’s deputy sentenced to 1 week of jail time for hardware theft

Jeremie Zeller, 47, stole merchandise from Home Depot in south Everett, where he worked overtime as a security guard.

Everett
11 months later, Lake Stevens man charged in fatal Casino Road shooting

Malik Fulson is accused of shooting Joseph Haderlie to death in the parking lot at the Crystal Springs Apartments last April.

T.J. Peters testifies during the murder trial of Alan Dean at the Snohomish County Courthouse on Tuesday, March 26, 2024 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Bothell cold case trial now in jury’s hands

In court this week, the ex-boyfriend of Melissa Lee denied any role in her death. The defendant, Alan Dean, didn’t testify.

A speed camera facing west along 220th Street Southwest on Tuesday, Nov. 21, 2023 in Edmonds, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
New Washington law will allow traffic cams on more city, county roads

The move, led by a Snohomish County Democrat, comes as roadway deaths in the state have hit historic highs.

Mrs. Hildenbrand runs through a spelling exercise with her first grade class on the classroom’s Boxlight interactive display board funded by a pervious tech levy on Tuesday, March 19, 2024 in Marysville, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Lakewood School District’s new levy pitch: This time, it won’t raise taxes

After two levies failed, the district went back to the drawing board, with one levy that would increase taxes and another that would not.

Support local journalism

If you value local news, make a gift now to support the trusted journalism you get in The Daily Herald. Donations processed in this system are not tax deductible.