Police raided homes of suspected Muslim militants across France overnight following the Paris attacks on Friday, and a source close to the investigation said a Belgian national in Syria was the possible mastermind.
Prosecutors said one of the killers had been stopped and fingerprinted in Greece last month, fueling speculation that the Islamic State group has taken advantage of the recent influx of refugees fleeing the Middle East to slip militants into Europe.
The carnage, which killed 129 people, has led to calls for the EU to close its borders to asylum seekers.
Photo: Reuters
The Islamic State, which has claimed responsibility for the attacks in retaliation for French airstrikes in Iraq and Syria, yesterday said in a video that any country hitting it would suffer the same fate, specifically Washington.
French warplanes bombed Islamic State training camps and a suspected arms depot in its Syrian stronghold Raqqa late on Sunday — its biggest such strike since it started assaults as part of a US-led mission launched last year.
Much of France came to a standstill at noon for a minute’s silence to remember the dead. Metro trains in Paris stopped, pedestrians paused and office workers stood at their desks.
Photo: Reuters
French Minister of the Interior Bernard Cazeneuve told reporters police had arrested 23 people and seized arms, including a rocket launcher and automatic weapons, in 168 raids overnight. Another 104 people were put under house arrest, he said.
“Let this be clear to everyone, this is just the beginning, these actions are going to continue,” he said.
The investigation into the coordinated Paris attacks led swiftly to Belgium after police discovered that two of the cars used by the militants had been rented in the Brussels region.
Photo: EPA
Dozens of Belgian police and armed commandos yesterday surrounded houses in the Brussels district of Sint-Jans-Molenbeek, home to many Muslim immigrants.
Molenbeek Mayor Francoise Schepmans said the operation ended after more than three hours.
Two small explosions were heard and dozens of masked and heavily armed security officials had sealed off the area.
Police arrested seven suspects in Brussels over the weekend, five of whom have been released, and are hunting Salah Abdeslam, a 26-year-old Frenchman based in the Belgian capital, who is one of three brothers believed to have been involved in the plot.
A source close to the investigation said Belgian national Abdelhamid Abaaoud, currently in Syria, was suspected of having ordered the Paris operation.
“He appears to be the brains behind several planned attacks in Europe,” the source said.
French prosecutors say they have identified five of the seven suicide attackers who died on Friday. Four were French, while the fifth man was stopped and fingerprinted in Greece last month and was possibly Syrian.
French President Francois Hollande was scheduled to make a rare address to the joint upper and lower houses of parliament later yesterday at the Palace of Versailles.
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