SAINT-DENIS, FRANCE // At least two terrorist suspects – including a woman wearing an explosive suicide vest who blew herself up – died early Wednesday morning as heavily armed police surrounded a suburban Paris apartment in a raid targeting the suspected mastermind of last week’s Paris attacks.
Another five people were arrested in the standoff in the suburb of Saint-Denis, which began before dawn and continued more than five hours later as explosions and gunfire rang out during the raid. One person remained inside the apartment, but it wasn’t clear who.
Abdelhamid Abaaoud, a 27-year-old Belgian ISIL militant believed to be the mastermind of the wave of attacks in Paris on Friday that killed 129 people, was believed to be holed up in the apartment with five other heavily armed people when the raid started.
The official, who was not authorised to be publicly named, said scores of police stormed the building early Wednesday and were met with unexpectedly violent resistance.
Reinforcements were summoned and several people have been injured.
Residents said a first explosion shook the neighborhood at about 4am local time.
“Then there was second big explosion. Then two more explosions. There was an hour of gunfire,” said Baptiste Marie, a 26-year-old who lives in the neighborhood.
Another witness, Amine Guizani, said he heard the sound of grenades and automatic gunfire.
“They were shooting for an hour. Nonstop. There were grenades. It was going, stopping. Kalashnikovs. Starting again,” Mr Guizani said.
Sporadic bangs and explosions continued, and at 6.00am at least seven explosions shook the center of Saint-Denis. Witnesses at the scene could hear what sounded like grenade blasts from the direction of the standoff.
Investigators have identified Abaaoud, a Belgian of Moroccan descent, as the chief architect of Friday’s attacks.
Seven attackers died in Friday’s gun-and-bomb rampage through Paris that killed at least 129 people and left over 350 wounded. The ISIL group has claimed responsibility for the carnage.
* Associated Press
