Ringleader of Paris attacks killed in raid

The mastermind of the Paris terrorist attacks died during a massive police raid in a suburb of the French capital, officials confirmed Thursday.

The bullet-riddled body of Abdelhamid Abaaoud, 27, was among two suspects found in the rubble following a police assault early Wednesday on an apartment in Saint-Denis, Paris prosecutor François Molins said.

French officials said they believe the terrorist cell directed by Abaaoud was preparing for another terror attack only days after a murderous spree left 129 people dead in Paris.

French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said Thursday that Abaaoud has also been linked to other attacks in Europe over the past year, including assaults on synagogues, and may be connected to an attempted shooting aboard an Amsterdam-to-Paris train in August that was thwarted by three Americans.

Suspected Paris attack mastermind Abdelhamid Abaaoud linked to other attacks

Abaaoud had also been involved in at least four of the six terrorist attacks foiled by French security forces since spring, Cazeneuve said. He is accused of training jihadists and was featured in several Islamic State propaganda videos.

The Belgian national was identified by his fingerprints, Molins said in a statement. "It was the body we had discovered in the building, riddled with bullets," he said. It was not clear whether Abaaoud was killed by police or blew himself up, he added.

The body of a second person, a woman, was also found in the apartment. Multiple news media organizations, citing unnamed sources close to the French investigation, said she may have been Abaaoud's cousin.

French officials identified her as Hasna Aitboulahcen.

According to an unidentified police official quoted by the Associated Press, one of the police officers involved in the raid asked: "Where is your boyfriend?" and she responded angrily: "He's not my boyfriend!" Then there was an explosion as she apparently detonated a suicide vest.

The Daily Mail quoted her brother, Youssouf Ait Boulahcen, as saying she had had no interest in religion, never read the Quran and had only started wearing a Muslim veil a month ago.

The newspaper published photographs of the 26-year-old woman, including one in which she is wearing a headscarf, and another, apparently a selfie showing her in a bath tub wearing heavy makeup and jewelry.

Several people were also arrested during the raid.

Authorities are still looking for Salah Abdeslam, 26, a friend of Abaaoud's who is suspected of participating in last week's terrorist attacks. Media reports say Abdeslam was apparently picked up in Paris afterward by friends from a Brussels suburb. The reports say he was even stopped briefly at least once at the Belgian border before he was officially linked to the Paris killings.

Cazeneuve said Abaaoud had been in Syria in 2014 and was the subject of an international warrant issued by Belgium, but no European countries notified France when Abaaoud had returned to Europe, apparently passing through Greece.

He said France was only alerted Nov. 16 — three days after the multiple attacks on Paris— that Abaaoud had been in Greece. He said the information came from a non-European source.

"It is urgent that Europe gather itself and organize itself against these terrorist acts," Cazeneuve said.

In an operation Thursday, police in the eastern French city of Charleville-Mezieres blew open a door to enter a house during a raid during France’s state of emergency.

Police spokeswoman Mathilde Coulon would not give further details about the evening raid in the city 145 miles east of Paris.

In a related development, France's National Assembly voted Thursday to extend a state of emergency by three months in the wake of the terrorist attacks. The measure, which allows authorities to conduct stop and searches and to ban large public gatherings, now goes to the French Senate.

French Prime Minister Manuel Valls warned that France could face chemical or biological terror attacks. He did not say whether there was a specific threat.

"We must not rule anything out. I say it with all the precautions needed. But we know and bear in mind that there is also a risk of chemical or bacteriological weapons," Valls said, speaking to parliament ahead of the state of emergency vote. "The macabre imagination of the masterminds is limitless."

U.S. and Iraqi intelligence officials told the Associated Press that Islamic State has a branch seeking to produce such weapons.

Also Thursday, a Belgian official said security forces have conducted nine raids and detained nine people linked to the deadly Paris attacks.

The police action took place in areas around Brussels, including the Molenbeek neighborhood associated to several of the Paris terroristr suspects. One official said the raids centered on the family, friends and others linked to Bilal Hadfi, 20, who has been named as one of the suicide bombers at the Stade de France, or national stadium, AFP reports..

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Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel announced $427 million in anti-terror measures Thursday following the attacks. He said the money will go toward increasing the numbers of security officials, and eradicating hate messages. He also wants to amend the constitution to extend the length of time terror suspects can be held by police without charge.

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius called on the international community to do more to eradicate the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL. He told France-Inter radio that the Islamic State "is a monster. But if all the countries in the world aren't capable of fighting against 30,000 (ISIL members), it's incomprehensible."

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Speaking at the European Parliament on Thursday, Rob Wainwright, director of Europol, the EU's law enforcement agency, said the attacks were “a clear statement of intent by ISIS to export its brutal brand of terrorism to Europe.”