Abdelhamid Abaaoud, the Belgian national who was being sought as the alleged mastermind behind last week’s terror attacks in Paris, is dead.
Abaaoud, who was thought to be 27 or 28, was accused of orchestrating seven different attacks in Paris that left 129 dead and at least 250 injured. According to the Paris prosecutor’s office Thursday, he was among those killed in a police raid in a suburb of the French capital.
Police had originally thought he was in Syria, but after investigations, they were led to a house in St.-Denis, a Paris suburb, on Wednesday. After storming the building before dawn, heavily armed officers were caught in a firefight that led to explosions.
His body, according to BBC, was found riddled with bullets and shrapnel. He was identified from his fingerprints.
Abaaoud was being watched by the intelligence community because of his high-profile presence on social media.
Meanwhile, France’s National Assembly approved a plan by President Francois Hollande to extend the state of emergency in the country declared on the night of the attacks by three months, to February 2016. This bill, which gives the government new sweeting powers, now moves to France’s upper house for an expected Friday vote.
