Paris attacks mastermind may be dead after police raid
Two suspects dead, eight arrested in St. Denis raid; police examining DNA evidence to to see whether ringleader was killed; cell was allegedly planning attacks.
PARIS - The sounds of gunshots reverberated through the morning air on Wednesday in a raid in which two suspects died and eight were arrested in the Paris neighborhood of Saint-Denis. Hours after the raid, intelligence sources told the Washington Post that the mastermind behind Friday's coordinated terror attacks was killed in the raid.
The seven-hour siege began when French police cornered several suspects involved in a series of coordinated attacks on the capital that killed at least 129.
The arrested suspects did not include the alleged mastermind and the bodies of the dead have yet to be identified.
A massive investigation and ensuing manhunt began in the aftermath of the attack on Friday and continued throughout the weekend in an attempt to pin down the planners and logistical organizers of the bloodiest attack in France since WWII.
France 2 reported that the cell was preparing imminent attacks on Roissy Charles de Gaulle airport and the city's commercial district in La Défense.
French media claimed that the target of the apartment raid was the suspected mastermind of the Paris attacks, Abdelhamid Abaaoud, previously believed to be located in Syria.
CNN reported that DNA tests were underway to see if body parts found at the scene belonged to Abaaoud.
Authorities said that it remains unclear if Abaaoud was indeed among those in the apartment.
Additionally, one of the nine attackers who managed to escape security forces was believed to be in the apartment, as well as Salah Abdeslam, suspected of providing logistical support for the attacks.
Paris Chief Prosecutor Francois Molins told a press conference that police had fired 5,000 rounds during the assault on the hideout.
Europe 1 Radio reports indicated that among the two killed in the raid was a female suspect, the cousin of Abaaoud, who detonated a suicide vest she was wearing. An additional suspect who is currently unidentified was said to have been shot and killed by sniper fire.
Seven others were said to have been arrested by authorities and five policemen were wounded in the aggressive exchange of gunfire. A police canine was also killed.
Molins said the assault was ordered after phone taps and surveillance operations led police to believe that Abaaoud might have been in St. Denis, near to the soccer stadium which was site of one of the attacks that hit Paris last week.
After the reported conclusion of the apartment raid, police were seen using hammers and rocks to break through the door of a nearby church, though the reasons were unknown.
French President Francois Hollande said that the events of the raid were further proof that France is in the midst of a war.
Officials told CNN that the raid had come "just in time," preventing further attacks planned by the suspects.
Reuters, Associated Press and AFP contributed to this report.
