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Updated: 7.39pm
PARIS AUTHORITIES SAY that a terrorist team was “neutralised” by a police raid this morning that led to two suspected Jihadists being killed and eight arrested.
The massive raid in the suburb of Saint-Denis saw police fire 5,000 rounds of ammunition in a shootout with the suspected terrorists.
Two suspected Jihadists were killed, including a woman who blew herself up.
The raid was part of the police hunt for Abdelhamid Abaaoud, believed to be the mastermind of last week’s attacks on the French capital that killed 129 people.
This evening, Paris prosecutor Francois Molins said that Abaaoud was not among those arrested and his fate is unknown.
“A new team of terrorists was neutralised and all indications are that given their arms, their organisational structure and their determination, the commando could have struck,” Molins said.
He did not eliminate the possibility that Abaaoud was killed, saying the identities of those dead is still being investigated.
(Police assault on the sound and the explosion in the apartment)
At least two bodies were found in the badly damaged building after the shootout, but their state was complicating efforts to identify them, Molins told a press conference.
The body that had sustained a number of gunshots was “not in a state that allows it to be identified”, he said.
Due to the severe damage to the building, it was impossible to know how many died and who they were, the prosecutor said.
“I am not able to give you a precise number and identity of those killed. There are at least two dead and verifications will likely take longer than expected,” he added
CNN earlier reported that five police officers sustained minor injuries and a police dog was killed in the assault.
Eyewitnesses described seeing troops patrolling the streets as heavily-armed police swapped gunfire with people holed up in an apartment.
Two people in the apartment were killed, including the woman who blew herself up with an explosives vest.
Eight arrests have been made, but none of the people detained have been identified.
The raid began before dawn, at around 4.00am (03.30 GMT), at an apartment at the crossroads of Rue de la Republique and Rue Corbillon.
Molins said telephone surveillance and witness reports “led us to believe” that Abaaoud had been in the apartment.
Abaaoud is an Islamic State fighter who was previously thought to be in Syria after fleeing raids in his native Belgium earlier this year.
“A cowardly act”
French President Francois Hollande has today addressed French mayors to discuss proposals to extend the state of emergency by three months.
Hollande said his thought were with the families of all victims of the “cowardly act” last Friday night.
Speaking to the officials, he said operations in Syria have been intensified and called for a “large coalition to carry out decisive strikes”.
Not all countries have the same approach or same allies but what is at stake is the annihilation of an army which threatens the whole world and not only some countries as opposed to others.
He said the extension of the state of emergency in France will mean “some temporary restrictions to freedoms” such as administrative searches and home arrests.
This is necessary in order to dismantle the terrorist network and isolate radicalised elements within the country, he told mayors, as well as to put a stop to trafficking which might give them the logistics and money they need to commit “heinous crimes”.
Hollande told the assembly of mayors that these decisions are not taken lightly but assured them France “will remain a country of freedom”.
The proposal to extend the state of emergency will be put to vote by lawmakers tomorrow and Friday. Hollande will also meet Putin in Moscow on 26 November, two days after seeing US President Barack Obama in Washington.
Exchange of fire
Residents of the Paris suburb where the raid took place this morning, some of whom were evacuated in their underwear, said they had been caught in a terrifying exchange of fire.
Hayat, 26, had been leaving a friend’s apartment where she had spent the night when the shots erupted.
“I heard gunfire,” she said. “I could have been hit by a bullet. I never thought terrorists could have hid here.”
The raid came after footage from the scene of one of Paris attacks revealed a ninth suspect may have taken part. It is known that seven were killed in the carnage on Friday, most after detonating suicide belts.
It was not clear if the ninth man was one of two suspected accomplices detained in Belgium or was still on the run, potentially with 26-year-old fugitive Frenchman Salah Abdeslam who took part in the attacks with his suicide-bomber brother Brahim.
Police also carried out multiple raids in southwest France. The operations were part of an anti-terrorism strategy but not directly linked to the Paris attacks, an investigator said.
The area is home to the Stade de France, one of several places hit by gunmen and suicide bombers on Friday in the worst ever attack on French soil, which was claimed by the Islamic State jihadist group.
The coordinated assaults killed 129 people and injured more than 350, some of them critically.
‘Booms like grenades’
A local resident who identified herself as Alexia told AFP she heard shots, “‘booms like grenades and then intermittent bursts of gunfire”.
“I heard bursts of machine gun fire,” Reda, a taxi driver, said. “I got out (of the car), masked policemen stopped us and told us to leave.”
The raid came as Europe was placed on high alert after footage from the scene of one of Friday’s attacks revealed a ninth suspect may have taken part.
It was not clear if this ninth man was one of two suspected accomplices detained in Belgium or was on the run, potentially with 26-year-old fugitive Frenchman Salah Abdeslam who took part in the attacks with his suicide-bomber brother Brahim.
Police also carried out raids in southwestern France, in Ariege, Toulouse and the department of the Haute-Garonne.
The operations were part of an anti-terrorism strategy and not the probe into the Paris, an investigator told AFP.
Additional reporting from AP and by Orla Ryan, Catherine Healy, Michelle Hennessy and Rónán Duffy.
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The Oberstown staff member was extremely seriously badly injured by a savage assault by several inmates….yet his injuries were stressed by the media inc. the journal as accidental…is the journal part of the cover up for Pat Bergin and Mr Zappone?
Management appear to be an absolute joke. Complex is ridiculous understaffed. This all falls at the feet of Bergin and Zappone. Staff need support
It was Zappone that made the inmates roam the halls while the strike was on. There was originally an agreement to keep them on lock down for the 8 hours but no, the poor darlings couldn’t do that… you have 8 17 year olds in a wing with 2 staff all out loose what do you think is gonna happen… idiocy from the left wing liberal politicians as always
All staff should go sick, place not fit for purpose. Send army in to pamper the vulnerable youths.
The staff highlighted their concerns long before the new build took place. Then after completing the buildings the flaws in construction and unsuitable design were highlighted. All of this was dismissed and finally the absence of any planning or retraining prior to admitting older lads was a cause of great concern to the staff on the floor. Now the chickens are finally coming home to roost.
Nobody should go back to work in that place. Another major f××ch up by the powers that be and they are in damage limitation mode big time.
Well said
The Oberstown staff are on the cusp of an entirely correct and overdue reorientation of priorities in the arena of delinquency/social care/youth detention/juvenile criminality/special care/employment law/human rights/health and safety and about 79 other pertinent and relevent fields…..hopefully they will continue to maintain the moral high ground and pursue natural justice…their cause is just and necessary.
The staff there need to be fully supported and resourced. They have to endure verbal and physical abuse from these scrotes who are pampered by the bleeding heart do gooders. If they set the fire, let them burn l say.
I’m sure as the poor unfortunate staff member undergoes plastic surgery to try and achieve a better outcome from his head injuries that he will be forever ‘grateful’ for the good wishes from Professor Kilkelly and delighted to hear that school has resumed and the ‘children’ are back to being tucked in, after all it is essential to ensure that the care ethos of the Campus is protected.”, never mind if a staff member is under going surgery, trauma and psychological stress caused by the dear ‘children’, nobody mention the violence, you know how it upsets the little dears, anyone for playstation games, watching tv, pizza anyone….
Honeybee…..your sarcasm has a new admirer…..
I guess Peter when you see frontline staff like this poor man or the garda who was hit in the head with a hammer, well, you have to wonder what in Gods name are those in charge doing to punish the perpetrators and the reality is nothing what so ever with the result these young thugs think they are invincible and are laughing at the academic charades of the justice system, as soon as they are released they will pick up where they left off. unfortunately that is the reality, why they even tried to burn the detention center down. just hope the staff member recovers but it will affect him something awful whenever he returns to work , not the kind of thing you can brush off, poor man.
“an extremely difficult few days”….a few? 2 ? 4 ? What does difficult mean? Getting your head kicked around by 2-4 criminals or the canteen soup being a little salty? Lets be honest here…….
close the place and house the animals in proper prisons
Not the solution. Empower the care staff who live in fear of management. Give them the tools to do their job. And finally update the long out of date Standards and Criteria for Children Detention Schools.
To ensure the care ethos is protected ? Eh the hugs and the molly coddling ain’t working! Give more control to the staff and stop this ridiculous carry on . They are not residents, they’re prisoners and should be treated as such ..
“Professor” Kilkelly. And that folks is the root of the problem in Oberstown. The board of management is made up of Academics and Social Warriors. People with Zero practical experience of dealing with violent criminals.
Staffing levels are only part of the issue. The whole centre has been hijacked. Built as a low security unit for young offenders the minister thought it would be great to add 16 and upwards as well. Staff are continually locked in physical confrontations with these animals but the European commission on human rights feels a 17 year old butcher shouldn’t be locked up with his counterparts in regular chains but be treated as a child.
#Irexit now
In rod we trust. More rod, and in exceptional cases, cowbell! A previous poster had it right, full on strike and bring in the army (in MP mode) for a bit. Contrast and compare outcomes.
Forget the army. Can nobody find a bunch of gay hells angels?
Don’t bottle it and continue with the strike.Imates are not children they are violent criminals and should be in a prison environment . The Government ,min of Justice and health are doing the usual hug a thug crap
Build Thornton Hall, and include a separate high security wing to house these thugs until they’re old enough to move next door.
The staff assaulted my these feral skangers were not listened to from the outset. The Dunning Kruger effect is much in evidence here. Management’s hubris and ignoring of staff has severe ramifications for the lower echelons of the institutions they ‘manage’. This is particularly blatant in the public service, from hospitals to museums to justice etc.
The proverbial ‘$hit floats’.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
..meant ‘by’ not ‘my’.
Oberstown has become a crime university as there is no discipline, no penalties, and the young criminals have contempt for the management and staff.
If the woolly thinking by the minister and management was indeed to insist violent offenders doors be opened during strike action then the ensuing result is chickens home to roost or roast in this case!
Something similar happened at Wentworth.
The staff on the last day of industrial action sent extra staff down to help when needed. Again it showed staff helping in the face of immediate dangers. On that day of industrial action Oberstown had more staff on campus than any other day. This is not about staffing matters but about management. It is time for new management to be employed. If the BOM can’t see that, they are refusing to recognise the real challenge.
..meant ‘by’ not ‘my’.
have your say