Terror in Paris: One of the attackers was known to security services
World
Terror in Paris: One of the attackers was known to security services
French citizen Ismael Omar Mostefai has been named as one of the Paris terrorists who was reportedly inside the Bataclan concert hall where at least 89 people died. The Mayor of Chartres named Mostefai, 29, as one of the eight suspects killed in the series of shootings and bombings on Friday night. French newspaper Le Monde reported he was identified by his fingertip, discovered after he detonated a suicide vest inside the Bataclan as police closed in. Mostefai was born in Courcouronnes, Essonne, on 21 November 1985, and lived in Chartres, southwest of Paris. Paris prosecutor Francois Molins said he had a criminal record and was known to security services but had not spent time in jail.
He caught police's attention due to the violation of public power. From 2004 to 2010, he was pronounced guilty eight times, but has never been in prison. In 2010, he was blacklisted by the police due to extreme behaviours, but never been classified into any illegal extremist groups.
Paris prosecutor Francois Molins
Paris prosecutor's office spokeswoman Agnes Thibault-Lecuivre said police have arrested some of Mostefai's family members. But she declined to give further details of how many people had been detained. Three teams of attackers in identical explosives vests seem to have co-ordinated the "act of barbarism" that left a total 129 people dead and 352 injured across the French capital, Mr Molins said. Three other people, including a French citizen, have been arrested in connection with the atrocities. They were detained at the Belgian border. Three others were arrested in police raids in Molenbeek, a poor, immigrant area of Brussels. Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel said at least one of those held in Molenbeek was thought to have spent the previous night in Paris. Two cars registered in Belgium were impounded close to scenes of some of the violence in Paris, including the Bataclan. Islamic State has claimed responsibility
We will strike this enemy to destroy him. In France and in Europe, we'll chase the authors of this act, and also in Syria and Iraq. We will win this war.
French Prime Minister Manuel Valls