BREAKING NEWS: Paris terror plot mastermind 'is DEAD'. Police remove two bodies from siege apartment after French commandos 'kill Belgian ISIS leader during gun battle'
- French police and special forces launch 4.25am operation to storm Saint-Denis flat containing seven Paris terrorists
- Mastermind behind Friday's massacres, Abdelhamid Abaaoud, 27, believed to be inside Saint-Denis apartment
- Two senior European intelligence officials say Abaaoud was killed in the flat raid but this has yet to be confirmed
- The bodies of the two terrorists killed in the flat raid have not yet been identified, according to a French prosecutor
- Neither Abaaoud nor Salah Abdeslam, who has been on the run since Friday's attacks, were among those arrested
- Female suicide bomber who fired at police believed to be Abaaoud's cousin. One other suspect killed by grenade
- Woman, named as Hasna Aitboulahcen by unconfirmed reports, is said to have screamed 'Help me, help' at police
- Five people taken alive from flat and arrested as well as two others 'nearby' as stand-off ended after six hours
- Security sources claimed they were 'fourth unit' from ISIS cell set to attack Paris' main airport and shopping centre
- Two of arrested plotters were both shot in the arm and are being operated on at a secure hospital in Bobigny, Paris
- Paris prosecutor refuses to confirm if Abaaoud was in the safehouse and if he was captured or died in the siege
- At least five police have been injured in the ferocious gunfight and the terrorists killed a police dog called Diesel
- Witnesses told MailOnline there were periods of intense machine gun fire and at least seven large explosions
- Man who rented flat to 'two Belgians' is arrested and claims: 'I didn't know they were terrorists. It was a favour'
- Alert sent to all European police forces warning fugitive gunman Salah Abdeslam may be driving Citroen Xsara
By
MARTIN ROBINSON and
SIMON TOMLINSON and
KEILIGH BAKER IN LONDON and
JAKE WALLIS SIMONS and
JENNY STANTON and
NICK FAGGE and
PETER ALLEN IN PARIS and
SAM TONKIN FOR MAILONLINE
PUBLISHED: 23:48 EST, 17 November 2015 | UPDATED: 14:32 EST, 18 November 2015
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The mastermind behind the Paris massacre, Abdelhamid Abaaoud, is dead, according to two senior intelligence officials.
The 27-year-old Belgian jihadi leader is said to have been killed by French commandos when a flat was raided in the early hours of this morning.
More than 100 armed officers stormed the flat in Saint-Denis believing Abaaoud was inside with six other terrorists.
The French authorities have still not confirmed if he was there or if he is dead or alive but two European intelligence officials told the
Washington Post that he had been killed inside the building.
French prosecutor Francois Molins said this evening that the two terrorists who died in the raid, a female suicide bomber who blew herself up and another jihadi killed by a grenade, had not yet been identified because of their condition.
But he revealed that neither Abaaoud nor Salah Abdeslam, who has been on the run since Friday's attacks, were among those arrested.
Security sources said earlier today that the raid, which saw terrorists fire around 5,000 rounds during an hour-long shoot out that left five French police officers injured, prevented a new ISIS double terror attack on Paris. It was carried out after security services received a tip-off on Monday that Abaaoud was ‘on French territory’.
Mr Molins said a 'new team of terrorists were neutralised' and that 'given their arms, their organisational structure and their determination' the cell was 'ready to act'.
He told a press conference how the ISIS terror squad who attacked Paris last Friday arrived in the city from Belgium in a convoy of three vehicles on November 12, the day before the atrocities. A VW Polo, Seat and Renault Clio used in the massacre were rented by the Abdeslam brothers in Belgium and arrived in the Paris area within ten minutes of each other.
A mobile phone was later found by police in a bin outside the Bataclan concert hall, where 89 people were murdered. A text sent at 9.42pm local time read: 'We’re off and we’re starting’, but the French authorities do not know who the recipient was.
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Wanted men: It has been reported the target of the police siege in Saint-Denis was Abdelhamid Abaaoud (left), thought to be the mastermind behind the Paris attacks who is said to have been killed. Salah Abdeslam (right), who has been on the run since Friday's attacks is not among those arrested according to a French prosecutor
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Bodies have this evening been removed from the flat raided by French police in Saint-Denis where Paris massacre mastermind Abdelhamid Abaaoud, 27, was believed to be inside with six other terrorists. The French authorities will not say if he was there or if he is dead or alive
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Aftermath: A forensics squad inspects a blood-covered mattress dumped in the glass-covered street outside the Saint-Denis flat used by seven suspected terrorists
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One of the bodies is removed from inside the apartment building (left) and loaded into a hearse (right) following the six-hour siege
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Drama: The terror suspect was dragged from the building and broken glass with no trousers on - presumably in case he was wearing a suicide belt - as police trained their weapons on the flat
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Paris terror plot mastermind 'is DEAD'
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