Paris attacks: Suspected mastermind named as Belgian ‘with history’

The suspected mastermind of the Paris attacks has been named by French officials as Belgian Abdelhamid Abaaoud. It has been reported that Abaaoud had links to thwarted attacks on a Paris-bound high-speed train when two US soldiers overpowered a heavily-armed gunman and a separate incident at a church. Abaaoud, who also uses the name Abu Omar al Baljiki, is of Moroccan origin and is believed to be in Syria currently. Seven people are in custody in Belgium suspected of links to the attacks. Meanwhile, two more suicide bombers involved in the massacre of 129 people on Friday have been identified by the prosecutor’s office.

Police then checked Abdeslam’s ID and subsequently let him go.

An unnamed official tells AP

Samy Amimour, a 28-year-old charged in a terrorism investigation in 2012, blew himself up inside the Bataclan theatre on Friday night. A suicide bomber who died outside the national football stadium was found with a Syrian passport with the name Ahmad al Mohammad, a 25-year-old born in Idlib. It is claimed another suspect was questioned and released by police hours after the massacres. Salah Abdeslam, 26, reportedly helped with logistics and rented a black Volkswagen Polo used by the gunmen who stormed the Bataclan concert hall and killed at least 89 people on Friday night. France last night launched a series of bombing raids on Islamic State strongholds in Raqqa, Syria, dropping at least 20 bombs.

World mastermind