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EUROPE’S MOST WANTED man Salah Abdeslam remains at large today despite an international manhunt and a wave of overnight raids in Belgium seeking the key suspect in the Paris attacks which killed 130.
The suspected mastermind, wanted Belgian jihadist Abdelhamid Abaaoud, was killed along with 26-year-old woman, Hasna Aitboulahcen, in a ferocious post-attacks raid by police last Wednesday on their hideout in a northern Paris suburb.
French officials are working to identify a third person, believed to be a male, who also died in the police raid.
Who is Salah Abdeslam?
Among the many questions hanging, few are more puzzling than the fate and role of Belgian-born Salah Abdeslam, 26.
One of the alleged attackers, Salah Abdeslam, was spirited away from Paris to Belgium after the November 13 massacre by two other men who were later arrested and charged there.
Like his brother Brahim, who blew himself up in a bar the night of the attacks, Salah played a key logistical role in the wave of terror that left 130 people dead.
He rented the Polo used in the Bataclan massacre and a Clio and also reserved hotel rooms used before the attacks.
His brother Brahim, like five other assailants, detonated an explosives vest the night of the attacks.
A seventh jihadist was shot by police as they stormed the Bataclan music venue.
Salah however remains at large.
Investigators believe he may have dropped off the three bombers at the Stade de France stadium where President Francois Hollande was watching a football match between France and Germany.
They also think he may have been planning to carry out another attack in the 18th district of northern Paris, where the Clio was found.
The Obs news website reports that the two men held in Belgium told investigators that they found him in a state of shock and wearing an explosives vest when they came to spirit him out.
His brother Mohamed Abdeslam yesterday told RTBF television he thought Salah decided at the very last moment not to go through with his attack.
Salah and his brother Brahim have been described as “big drinkers and big smokers” by friends who knew them from a bar they ran in Brussels that was shut down by authorities a few weeks ago.
The brothers grew up in the Brussels area of Molenbeek, a hotbed of Islamist extremism in Europe.
Both had links to Abaaoud, the alleged ringleader of the attacks, who also lived in Molenbeek.
Where was Abaaoud during the attacks?
The Belgian jihadist who allegedly planned the bloodshed has been seen in CCTV footage at a Metro station in eastern Paris at around 10:15 pm, less than an hour after gunmen began an assault in the city centre, a police source said.
Of Moroccan origin, Abaaoud had spent time alongside Islamic State extremists in Syria and was interviewed by the group’s magazine Dabiq.
His presence in Europe has raised serious questions about the work of intelligence services as he had been under an international arrest warrant issued by Belgium, where he was sentenced to 20 years in prison in July. It was widely believed he was still in Syria.
Unidentified bodies
So far, four of the gunmen and suicide bombers who carried out the attacks have been named.
Of the three who detonated explosives vests outside the stadium, only one has been identified so far, French-born Bilal Hadfi, 20, who lived in Belgium and had travelled to Syria.
Prosecutors said the other two had entered Europe through Greece on the same day in October, pretending to be refugees fleeing the war in Syria.
A Syrian passport in the name of Ahmad Al Mohammad was found next to one of them but it is believed it could have belonged to a dead Syrian soldier.
The other suicide bomber had also presented a Syrian passport in the name of Mohammad al-Mahmod to Greek authorities.
Police have also released a photo in hope of identifying him.
The third assailant at the Bataclan concert hall, where dozens were killed, has also not been identified.
Separately, investigators recovered three bodies following Wednesday’s raid that killed Abaaoud, 28, and Aitboulahcen, a French woman of Moroccan origin.
On Friday police clarified that they had discovered a third body and that Aitboulahcen had not blown herself up, as previously thought.
Investigators are still examining body parts to try to identify the third person who detonated an explosives belt during the police raid.
His DNA does not appear in police files and investigators are trying to determine if he also was among the migrants in Greece.
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Great news,Longford needs something like this
Forgot Longford was a county in Ireland
The rest of us forgot Longford was a county in Ireland. Some seeked professional help in doing so.
Where will we go on holiday this year kids?
Its not. Its a county in Northern Ireland
With all the homeless in the country, glad that there is money for resorts ! I have a real sense of deja-vu about this. But then we are all supposed to say it’s a great idea. Plenty of resorts in the country already.
Name one please? Go on !! I can think of only one such type of resort and that is Trabolgan in cork.
How come the pictures show sunshine????
They bought the set from the Truman Show
Has nobody told them yet that Longford only has 3 seasons. July, August & Winter
You only get the sunshine if you take the all inclusive package.
Great decision well done to Longford council members should be a huge boost to the region
Councillors don’t make planning decisions
@Tweety. They might not make the decision but from my experience they can be very good at convincing the planners that it would be in their best interest to grant permission for a project.
Well done Longford.
Brilliant news and something like this is so badly needed , for Longford and the tourist industry overall.
Brilliant news for Longford.Great vote of confidence following the marvellous County Development Plan prepared by Longford County Council
Just watch this get caught up in planning appeals from now till year dot.
Don’t worry somebody will find something ridiculous to complain about. They always do.
We do now have two Green Party TDs expect this to be destroyed by this lot
Just like you sean. Be the first. Why not
Well I hope not..its great for the local economy. Its a shame they charge the same as a one week trip to Florida..which one would you opt for?
Have stayed in Center Parcs park in Longleat, Wiltshire before and it was an amazing experience but also quite expensive! Wonderful amenities and lots of activities no matter what the weather. Accommodation is 5 star. It’s a safe haven for kids. Cars are only parked at accommodation for unpacking & packing, parked in car parks away from accommodation at all other times. Can’t wait to visit this one in Longford when it opens. No way can this be compared to Trabolgan, they are on totally different levels!
yeah, been on a couple in England. very good facilities and completely middle class outfits – and prices to match.
you’d wonder about the extent of their customer base here because it ain’t gonna be cheap.
Anyone commenting ever been to centreparcs? Judging by the comments , no. Heated outdoor and indoor pools, houses for visitors with heating,cycle tracks in the park no cars, shops, indoor and outdoor activities, it’s an all year round venue. The Brits know how to do things like this. My only worry about this, all profits are leaving the country. Yes jobs and investment in a county that needs economic activity but what’s to stop centreparcs from supplying its own labour, own goods from overseas, in fact just about everything imported.………nothing. And we welcome this with open arms. There should be commitments to the local area, the local community and the country.
Alan any chance you could mention Irish Water, Denis O Brien and Thierry Henry, go on it’ll really complete your rant.
You’d make a bright day, dull
Make that Dutch https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Center_Parcs
Went there a few times as a kid and with all the stuff you can do, heated pools both indoor and outdoor, activities all over the place, even when the weather is Irish, it will be a good place to go. Not cheap though but it has a lot up offer secularly if you have kids.
Profits go to ‘fat cats’ who don’t give a toss for the people they live amongst and spend it on expensive imports and foreign travel. Who cares whether they are Irish fat cats, British fat cats or from elsewhere as long as they are willing to invest their capital and create jobs and taxes in Ireland.
Like they were ever in danger of turning down €223 million.
Very easy to get planning permission with 220 million, and 2 months after completion we’ll find out it gets flooded twice a decade.
How much of the €223M is taxpayers money ? 2,500 visitors at any one time & 1,000 permanent jobs ?? Thats 1employee to each 2.5 visitors. Somehow, I don’t think so !
It’s similar to the passenger to crew ratio on a luxury cruise liner, so I don’t see why not.
I doubt that ratio exists on a luxury liner – regardless, either the prices to holiday in Longford will be sky high or the wages will be ‘job-bridge’ like.
There’s always one.
Na James – Thats Tayto Pk your thinking of.
It doesn’t mean everyone is working at the same time
@clive hand – Good point. I still reckon 1,000 is a good bit overstated.
Ok who’s going to bring the Sun?
Holiday home?? Next years refugee camp more likely. No disrespect to the locals.
Trabolgan seems like a nice place on the website but the houses are freezing and everything is run down. Really hope this is better maintained over the years!!
“Hup by m’haunt marys house in longford!”
Ya cried.
Like a big child.
Now lets get it on centreparcs!
Ya junkies bastids ya.
Wtf u need meds pal
Joycean poetry pal.
wait for it, some quango will find a rare bit of ‘fauna’ and the whole thing will grind to a halt while quangos pals do an EPA for €5000 to check said ‘rare’ fauna is safe.
Yeah could be a ‘snail’ paced project.
I’ll only go if there is a seesaw.
I wonder will James Bannon send in a CV, I’d say he’d be great at entertaining the kids! Don’t you only know he’ll claim that he single-handedly brought it to Longford!!!!
It rains 165 days a year in Longford so good luck with that. Brown envelopes to people who manage pension funds etc. If it were in west Cork maybe it would survive but to expect a business to make a profit when it only operates at 100%? for approx 4 good months in a year is risky.
They survive in the UK, the climate there is a tad damp.
Yea the thoughts of placing this in the centre of Ireland, rather than the arsehole of nowhere astounds me too
Excellent News for Longford .
Congratulations
It’ll be a great spot for a halting site ..!
This is huge. Brilliant for Longford and the Midlands. And because it’s a British operation it’ll be done properly.
We need more big developments like you get in other countries, not in a way that would destroy our landscape and reasons why people like Ireland. But we could learn for others and make a great balance of both.
Where is Longford?
Does anybody remember that big casino that was going to be built in Tipperary. When I see it I’ll believe it. Hopefully the Longfords newly elected Westmeath TD’s will get all the credit for bringing it to Longford
Yes, I remember that, and I also remember plans for a sort of theme park planned for Lusk, Co Dublin, back around ’03.
looks like a idyllic location for a piranha attack
Jurassic park?
CAn we have the same photos with it bucketing rain?
Whats the point if there is no summers in this region?
great render looks very slick, just a bit optimistic with the sunshine
have your say