Paris attacks mastermind Abdelhamid Abaaoud dead
Abdelhamid Abaaoud, the prime suspect for being the mastermind behind a series of terror attacks in Paris on Nov. 13, has been killed.
A police raid in the north of France on Wednesday reportedly killed the 27-year-old who believed he was always a step ahead of Western intelligence. The female suicide bomber, killed during the Wednesday raid, has been confirmed to be Abaaoud’s cousin, 26-year-old Hasna Ait Boulahcen.
Hasna was asked during the raid where her “boyfriend” was. She reportedly got angry and said he was not her boyfriend. She apparently blew herself up soon after.
According to an earlier interview with Abaaoud, he regularly travelled between Europe and Syria, but officials never managed to catch him.
“Allah blinded their vision and I was able to leave... despite being chased after by so many intelligence agencies," he told the ISIS magazine Dabiq, according to Fox News.
The French prosecutor’s office said Abaaoud had been identified from skin samples after the Wednesday raid at a Saint-Denis apartment. He was linked to a number of terror plots in the country, including the one in a high-speed train to Paris in August that was prevented by three young Americans.
While Abaaoud is confirmed to be dead, French authorities believe the fight against terror is far from over. Paris Deputy Mayor Patrick Klugman said his country should be ready for further attacks.
"We just now have to be ready for anything, any kind of an attack. ... Although we know that the mastermind of the attacks of Paris has been killed, the risk is still very high," he told the CNN.
French Prime Minister Manuel Valls earlier said ISIS might launch a chemical or bacterial attack against France. He said no possibilities of a terror attack should be ruled out.
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