Paris (dpa) – Abdelhamid Abaaoud, (pic) the man suspected of having masterminded last week’s Paris terrorist attacks, was killed during a violent police raid in a suburb of the French capital on Wednesday, prosecutor Francois Molins said.
Abaaoud’s body was found “riddled with impacts” in the raided building, Molins said in a statement issued on Thursday.
The assault had featured heavy gunfire and at least one explosion set off by a suicide bomber. It was not clear if Abaaoud had also blown himself up, according to Molins’ office.
He was identified thanks to “papillary traces,” the prosecutor said, without offering further details.
Abaaoud is a Belgian of Moroccan origin who was suspected of having planned the shootings and bombings that left at least 129 people dead and 352 injured in Paris on Friday evening. The Islamic State extremist group has claimed responsibility for the attacks.
Abaaoud fought for the Islamic State in Syria and is also suspected of having masterminded a foiled plot to kill police officers in Belgium in January.
French Interior Ministry Bernard Cazeneuve was expected to give more details during a press conference at 2:30 pm (1330 GMT).
The news came shortly before the French parliament approved a package of new laws that paves the way for the state of emergency in the country to be extended by three months. The measures will now go to the Senate for approval.
If approved, the state of emergency would remain in place until February 25. It for instance allows police to carry out searches more easily and at all hours of the night.
It is the first in a series of measures that the French government is expected to pursue in response to the attacks. A new structure to handle young radicalized people will also be created, Prime Minister Manuel Valls announced Thursday.
Paris Police, meanwhile, announced that they were extending a ban on public demonstrations in the French capital and surrounding areas until Sunday. Authorities have been keen to prevent large gatherings of people amid fears of a new attack.
Valls warned that terrorists could be ready to attempt anything, including using chemical or biological weapons.
“Today, nothing can be excluded,” he told the French parliament. “I say this of course with all the caution required, but we know it and we have it in mind. There can also be the risk of chemical or biological weapons.”
At least one suspect in the Paris attacks still remains at large.
A manhunt has been underway since Sunday for Salah Abdeslam, a 26-year-old French resident of Belgium who is suspected of having been part of a commando in the attacks.
The Belgian newspaper De Standaard reported that police are also searching for a man suspected of having provided explosives and detonators to the attackers.
It identified the suspect as Mohamed K, a man originally from the Antilles who lived in the northern French city of Roubaix. The suspect is described as “very dangerous,” the newspaper wrote.
French investigators have circulated his picture and Belgian police are involved in the search, De Standaard reported, although it was unclear if he is in Belgium.
Belgian law enforcement on Thursday carried out six raids focusing on people with links to another Paris suicide bomber, Bilal Hadfi. The Belgium resident was identified as one of the assailants who blew themselves up near the Stade de France football stadium.
Prosecution spokesman Eric Van Der Sypt told the Belga news agency that the raids were not directly connected to the Paris attacks, stemming instead from an investigation launched earlier this year after Hadfi left Syria.
Another raid was carried out on Thursday morning in the Brussels suburb of Laken. This operation was connected to the Paris attacks, Belga wrote. One person was detained, Belgian broadcaster RTBF reported.
France is also working with international partners to go after the Islamic State in Syria.
“We need to gather all our forces against Daesh, who are monsters, but there are only 30,000 of them,” Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius told France Inter radio, using the Arabic acronym for Islamic State.
The minister said he could not believe that “all the countries of the world cannot defeat 30,000 people,” and added: “We know that the battle will be long, but the French government is absolutely determined.”
