A woman wearing an explosive suicide vest blew herself up Wednesday as heavily armed police tried to storm a suburban Paris apartment where the suspected mastermind of last week’s gun and bomb rampage was believed to be holed up, police said.
They said one man was also killed and seven people arrested in the standoff, which began before dawn and continued for more than seven hours, with gunfire and large bangs sporadically ringing out near the apartment building In the Paris suburb of Saint-Denis.
Government spokesman Stephane Le Foll said just before noon that “the operation is over.” The fate of the suspected attacks planner, Abdelhamid Abaaoud, was unclear.
Police said a security perimeter around the building remained in place.
A senior police official said he believed Abaaoud, a Belgian Islamic State militant, was inside the apartment with five other heavily armed people when the raid started.
As it happened: >Paris anti-terror raid
Abaaoud was believed to be in Syria after a January police raid in Belgium, but bragged in Islamic State propaganda of his ability to move back and forth between Europe and Syria undetected.
The official said scores of police stormed the building and were met with unexpectedly violent resistance.
Another police official said four police officers were injured. No hostages were being held.
A senior police official and the Paris prosecutor’s office said SWAT teams arrested seven people in the building. They did not identify them.
French President Francois Hollande held an emergency meeting with senior ministers at the Elysee Palace to monitor the raid.
Residents said an explosion shook the neighbourhood shortly after 4 a.m. (local time).
“We guessed it was linked to Friday night,” said Yves Steux, barman at L’escargot restaurant 250 meters (yards) from the assault. “My wife panicked and was scared and told me not to leave, but I ignored her. Life goes on.”
Sporadic bangs and explosions continued, and at 7-30 a.m. at least seven explosions shook the centre of Saint-Denis. Associated Press reporters at the scene could hear what sounded like grenade blasts from the direction of the standoff.
Investigators have identified 27-year-old Abaaoud, a Belgian of Moroccan descent, as the chief architect of Friday’s attacks in Paris, which killed 129 people and injured 350 others.
A U.S. official briefed on intelligence matters said Abaaoud was a key figure in an Islamic State external operations cell that U.S. intelligence agencies have been tracking for many months.
In Saint-Denis on Wednesday, police cordoned off the area nearby, including a pedestrian zone lined with shops and 19-century apartment buildings. Riot police cleared people from the streets, pointing guns at curious residents to move them off the roads.
Saint-Denis Mayor Didier Paillard said public transport was suspended and that schools in the centre of town would not open on Wednesday.
Seven attackers died in Friday’s attacks, which targeted several bars and restaurants and the Bataclan concert hall, as well as the national stadium. The Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for the carnage.
Police had said before the raids that they were hunting for two fugitives suspected of taking part as well as any accomplices. That would bring the number of attackers to at least nine.
French fighter jets attack Islamic State targets in Syria
Meanwhile, French fighter jets attacked Islamic State targets in Syria for a third night. The French defence ministry said 10 jets had hit two Islamic State command centres in the militants’ base of Raqqa, Syria.
The Paris attacks have galvanized international determination to confront the Islamic State group in Syria and Iraq, bringing France, Russia and the United States closer to an alliance.
Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the missile cruiser Moskva, currently in the Mediterranean, to start cooperating with the French military on operations in Syria.
Meanwhile, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said a cease-fire between Syria’s government and the opposition could be just weeks away. He described it as potentially a “gigantic step” toward deeper international cooperation against IS.
Europe on high alert
France and the rest of Europe remain on edge four days after the attacks. Two Air France flights bound for Paris from the U.S. were diverted Tuesday night one to Salt Lake City and one to Halifax because of anonymous threats received after they had taken off. Both were inspected and >cleared to resume their journeys.
In the German city of Hannover, a football game between Germany and the Netherlands was cancelled at the last minute and the stadium evacuated by police because of a bomb threat.
Lower Saxony state Interior Minister Boris Pistorius said the match was called off after “vague” information that solidified late in the day.
No arrests have been made and no explosives found. Mr. Pistorius said this may be because the plot was called off after the game was cancelled.
“We won’t know what would have happened if we didn’t cancel it,” he said.
