The Paris public prosecutor has been giving more details of Wednesday morning’s seven hour operation against the alleged mastermind of last week’s deadly attacks in the French capital.
Two people died including a woman who’s said to have blown herself up; another suspect was shot dead. Human remains found in the rubble of the flat have yet to be identified.
Francois Molins said the operation “eliminated a terrorist cell” planning new attacks.
The raid on a flat in the northern Saint Denis district was launched after phone taps, a tip-off and surveillance led authorities to believe Abdel-Hamid Aba Oud was holed up in the apartment.
But he was not among eight people arrested and it remains unknown as to whether he had been in the property. Aba Oud is suspected to planning Friday’s gun and bomb attacks in which 129 people were killed.
More than 5,000 rounds of ammunition were fired in the gunbattle between militants and police on Wednesday morning. Work is now underway to prevent the main building targeted from collapsing.
After five days of investigating, Molins also revealed that police have discovered what he described as a “total war arsenal” of Kalashnikovs and explosives.