2 killed, 8 held after France raid, but suspected ringleader's status unknown
Paris, France (CNN)French
authorities took the offensive Wednesday, raiding a purported hideout
of the suspected ringleader in last week's deadly Paris attacks in an
operation that ended with eight detained, two dead and potentially more
bloodshed thwarted.
But what about that suspected ringleader, Abdelhamid Abaaoud?
At
one point, authorities believe he was holed up on the third floor of an
apartment building in the northern Paris suburb of Saint-Denis, Paris
prosecutor Francois Molins said Wednesday. Whether he was there when
scores of heavily armed French police launched their assault at 4:20
a.m. Wednesday (10:20 p.m. ET Tuesday) is unknown.
Some residents in the area told CNN they saw Abaaoud recently in the neighborhood and at a local mosque.
Investigators
zeroed in on the building after picking up phone conversations
indicating that a relative of Abaaoud might be there. They met fierce
resistance from the start, including an armored door, a woman who blew
herself up and bullets flying back and forth for about an hour. The
French officers even used powerful munitions, which led to one floor of
the building collapsing.
That violence produced rubble that included body parts, on which investigators are conducting DNA tests.
Neither Abaaoud nor suspect Salah Abdeslam, for whom authorities have been hunting since the attacks, were among those detained in the operation, Molins said.
French President Francois Hollande held up the vicious back-and-forth as further proof that "we are at war" with ISIS.
"What
the terrorists were targeting was what France represents. This is what
was attacked on the night of November 13," he said. "These barbarians
targeted France's diversity. It was the youth of France who were
targeted simply because they represent life."
ISIS
first drew international attention for taking over swaths of Iraq and
Syria, leaving a trail of violence and destruction in its wake. And its
efforts to bring terror to the global stage seem to be growing. This
month alone, ISIS has claimed responsibility for the Paris attacks, the
downing of a Russian passenger jet in Egypt and a pair of suicide
bombings in Beirut.
France had already
been part of the U.S.-led coalition fighting ISIS with airstrikes. But
the country has stepped up its efforts since the series of shootings and
explosions in Paris last week, which killed 129 people.
Now,
Hollande has proposed extending France's state of emergency for three
more months -- a measure that, among other things, gives authorities
greater powers in conducting searches, holding people and dissolving
certain groups. To go after the Islamist extremist group, the French
President also said he would appeal to world leaders -- including
meeting next week with U.S. President Barack Obama and Russian President
Vladimir Putin, who have been at odds on what to do in Syria.
"There
is no more ... divide. There are only men and women of duty," he said.
"We must destroy this army that menaces the entire world, not just some
countries."
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