A sniper fatally shot a terrorist while a woman suicide bomber blew herself up on Wednesday as elite police personnel mounted an operation in a suburb here to catch the mastermind of the deadly Paris terror attacks, authorities said. Seven suspects were arrested while five policemen were injured in the over seven-hour-long operation.
French Minister Bernard Cazeneuve confirmed that the police assault was over and that two terrorists were dead and seven had been arrested. He paid tribute to the police personnel who have “never before come under such gunfire”, media report said.
The raids, which saw a string of massive explosions interspersed with heavy gunfire, were targeted to get Abdelhamid Abaaoud, 27, a Belgian of Moroccan origin and the alleged mastermind of the November 13 terror attack that killed 129 people and injured over 350 in Paris. It was not clear whether Abaaoud was dead or arrested.
French Ambassador to India François Richier told NDTV that the suspected Paris attack mastermind Abaaoud may have committed suicide in police raids.
Meanwhile, Europe was on high alert on Wednesday after video showed a ninth man may have taken part in the Paris attacks. Police are hunting the newest suspect believed to be involved in the carnage after footage showed a third man in a car used by gunmen who opened fire at bars and restaurants in central Paris.
It is not clear if this ninth man is one of two suspected accomplices detained in Belgium or is on the run, potentially with 26-year-old fugitive Frenchman Salah Abdeslam who carried out one of the attacks at Bonne Biere cafe along with his suicide-bomber brother Brahim.
Salah Abdeslam, was also said to be a target in the raids carried out by the French police.
As the gun battle raged in Paris, two Air France flights headed from the US to France were diverted due to bomb scare. Both flights landed safely on Tuesday night, media reports said.
Also, a football match between Germany and the Netherlands was cancelled in Hannover in Germany on Tuesday evening after a threat of attacks with explosives was received.
Meanwhile, all 129 fatalities in last week's Paris attacks have now been identified but a total of 221 people remain in hospital, dozens of them seriously hurt, a statement from the French Cabinet said on Wednesday.
“To date, of the dead victims have all been identified, that is 129,” said the statement issued after the weekly Cabinet meeting.
French President Francois Hollande will hold a meeting on Wednesday to discuss proposals to extend the state of Emergency declared after the worst attacks in French history for three months. It will then be put to vote by lawmakers on Thursday and Friday.
French President Francois Hollande urged the nation not to “give in to fear” or excessive reactions in the wake of the jehadist attacks.
“No anti-Semitic or anti-Muslim act can be tolerated,” he told a meeting of the nation's mayors after the police carried out the massive raids in Paris.
The raids that started around 4.30 am at an apartment in Saint Denis, a suburb with a sizeable immigrant population, went on till noon, France 24 news channel reported.
Christian, a resident of Saint Denis' rue de la République, told French channel BFMTV that there was noise of gunfire. later, blasts smashed the windows in the flat and a mattress was flung out of the window, The Telegraph reported.
“I've been hearing gunshots continuously, like fireworks... There have been some breaks but... to me it sounds like continuous gunshots,” another resident, Benson Hoi, told the BBC.
Paris prosecutor Francois Moulins said that “surveillance and telephone surveillance led us to believe that Abaaoud was in a 'plotters' flat in Saint-Denis”.
Police found weapons, explosives, suicide vests and plans for another terrorist attack in the flat, according to Europe1 Radio.
Seven deafening blasts shook Saint Denis after truckloads of armed policemen swarmed the area where terrorists were suspected to be holed up in the apartment.
One of the suspects was shot by a police sniper, while the second, a woman, blew herself up at the very start of the operation, Molins said.
“It is currently impossible to give the identify of those arrested, which is being verified,” Molins added.
Media reports indicated that the woman suicide bomber may have been related to Abaaoud. She fired her AK-47 at police before blowing herself up. A police dog was killed in the suicide bombing.
Roads were blocked off around Rue de la Republique in Saint Denis during the police siege. At least five people were believed to have been in the targeted third floor flat.
Meanwhile, in a sign of the nervousness gripping Europe after Friday's carnage, a football match between Germany and the Netherlands was cancelled and the crowd evacuated after police acted on a “serious” bomb threat.
The friendly match in the northern German city of Hanover had been intended as a “symbol of freedom” after the shooting spree and suicide bombings in Paris.
“We received a serious indication that a bomb attack was planned inside the stadium tonight,” Hanover police chief Volker Kluwe told German broadcaster ARD.
As police in both France and Belgium stepped up the hunt for the fugitives, French and Russian jets pounded IS targets in the group's Syrian stronghold of Raqa for a third consecutive day.
France and Russia have vowed merciless retaliation for the Paris attacks and last month's bombing of a Russian airliner, also claimed by the ISIS, which have galvanised international resolve to destroy the jehadists and end Syria's more than four-year civil war.