The heroic and timely actions of French commandos may have thwarted an even deadlier Paris attack.
The man believed to have planned the Nov. 13 Paris attacks that killed 130 people and wounded hundreds more had likely planned to carry out another suicide bombing days later in the French capital’s business district, the Paris prosecutor said Tuesday.
Abdelhamid Abaaoud and an accomplice are believed to have been planning to deadly suicide attack La Defense on Nov. 18 or 19, Paris prosecutor Francois Molins said. French commandos raided their apartment early the 18th.
Abaaoud was among three people killed during a police raid on an apartment in a northern Paris suburb in the early hours of Nov. 18 by French commandos, the same day the deadly attack may have been planned. His female cousin, Hasna Ait Boulahcen, died of asphyxia apparently from the explosive vest detonated by a third person, who hasn’t been identified, the prosecutor said. The explosion led to part of the apartment collapsing.
Molins said the unidentified third person is believed to have been the accomplice with whom Abaaoud would have carried out an attack on La Defense, the high-rise district that is headquarters to major companies on the western edge of Paris, making it much like the French Wall Street.
The prosecutor said he “can’t be, and doesn’t want to be more precise” on the second deadly plot. Information obtained on Nov. 19 suggested “that the two attackers — Abaaoud and the man we found by his side in the apartment — were planning an attack consisting of blowing themselves up at La Defense either on Wednesday the 18th or Thursday the 19th,” Molins said.
“The geolocalization of Abdelhamid Abaaoud’s alleged phone between 22:28 p.m. and 0:28 confirms a presence in the 12th, 11th, and 10th districts, and notably near the Bataclan concert hall,” Molins said. “This allows us to think that Abdelhamid Abaaoud returns to the crime scenes following the attacks on terraces of the cafes and restaurants of the 10th and 11th districts while (special police) were still taking action at the Bataclan.”
The attack has been traced to a network of people with ties to both France and Belgium, where Abaaoud was from. Belgian authorities charged a fifth suspect Tuesday with terror-related offenses relating to the Paris attack, while the federal prosecutor’s office issued an international arrest warrant for Mohamed Abrini, who is being tracked by both Belgian and French police. Abrini, who has been described as “armed and dangerous,” was seen with Salah Abdeslam — another top fugitive suspect in the attacks who crossed into Belgium the day after the killings — at a gasoline station in Ressons on the highway to Paris two days before the attacks. An international arrest warrant has also been issued for Abdeslam.
The Belgian capital has remained on the highest level of alert since the weekend for fear of a “serious and imminent threat,” with shops, schools and subways shut. Schools are expected to reopen Wednesday along with parts of the subway system, although the alert level will remain.
French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve told lawmakers on Tuesday that 124 people have been handed preliminary charges since a state of emergency was imposed hours after the attacks, following more than 1,230 searches in which 230 weapons were recovered. He didn’t specify what the charges were or if they were linked to the attacks.
The Associated Press contributed to this article
Rob says
And this is what they want to do in our country. I believe they are already here and got here from our southern open border thanks to our president that wants us all to live in fear.
Go out this holiday season and enjoy! Just don’t go to malls,parades or anywhere in which there area large number of people.
That makes sense doesn’t it?
Phil Sargent says
It should be mandatory that all these suicide bombers have to practice at least once before taking their act on the public !
Rianne says
WHAT?