French jets began bombing ISIS targets in eastern Syria tonight,
according to France's defense ministry, hours after the country's
national police launched an international manhunt for a "dangerous"
suspect wanted for involvement in the Paris attacks.
The French Ministry of Defense said it targeted a command post and a
terrorist training camp, dropping 20 bombs on ISIS’s de facto capital in
Raqqa, Syria. The first target included a command post, jihadist
recruiting center and a weapons warehouse, the ministry said.
Ten French fighter jets were launched simultaneously from the United
Arab Emirates and Jordan in an operation carried out in coordination
with U.S. military command, the French Defense Ministry said.
Activists in Raqqa tweeted that water and power was cut off after the airstrikes.
Hours earlier, the French national police said it was seeking Salah
Abdeslam, a 26-year-old French national who was born in Brussels, for
involvement in the attacks.
Officials told ABC News he is believed to be the gunman who led the team
shooting a people in restaurants and bars. Police picked up his trail
in a suburb just outside Paris after they found a car used in the
attack, and they believe he then took a different car to Brussels.
En route he was pulled over at a traffic stop, but not detained, and
made it across the border. Authorities later seized that car in Belgium.
Officials said he is one of three brothers: One of the three died during the attacks and another was detained in Belgium.
The attacks in Paris that left scores dead and hundreds injured were
prepared in Belgium and the suspects received help in France, French
Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said today.
A raid took place today in the Bruxelles-Ville neighborhood of Brussels
in connection with the Paris attacks, a Belgian official said.
Iraqi Foreign Minister Ibrahim al Jaafari said that, prior to the
attacks, sources in Iraqi intelligence obtained information that some
countries, France in particular, would be targeted by ISIS. In a
statement in Vienna, Jaafari said Iraq notified both the U.S. and Iran.
Police have detained several people in France and Belgium, including two
men in Belgium who officials say were directly involved –- indicating
authorities believe at least 10 people played a role in the complex
assault.
Some of the men under arrest had been tracked to Belgium after being
spotted on surveillance tape in a rental car purportedly used in one of
the shootings. One car apparently used in the attack was discovered
today with "several" Kalashnikov rifles, the Paris prosecutor said.
Two of the deceased gunmen have been identified by French officials:
29-year-old French citizen Ismail Mostefai and another man whose photo
appears on a Syrian passport. However, authorities are carefully
examining the authenticity of the passport, which shows the man slipped
into Europe through Greece, then Serbia and Croatia in early October and
then eventually to France, according to European officials.
Two of the suspects who died during the attack were French nationals
living in Belgium, officials revealed today, as the investigation into
who was behind the devastating six-part attack on French citizens
continues.
One of the dead attackers lived in the Brussels suburb of Molenbeek,
where raids took place Saturday, and a second attacker lived in the
broader Brussels area, a Federal Prosecutor spokesman told ABC News.
Both were French nationals, a Belgian official said.
Belgium’s Interior Minister said today the situation in Molenbeek, which
is at the center of the investigation, is out of control.
Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel said Molenbeek was a "giant
problem," according to Belgian TV, and the government should "focus more
on repression."
More than 500 Belgian nationals have left to fight in Syria, according
to a Belgian database. Belgium has provided the most foreign fighters in
Syria, per capita, of any European country.
Kamil Zihnioglu/AP Photo
Three teams of suspects carried out six separate attacks, officials
said, before seven attackers were killed by detonating their explosive
belts.
The death toll in the Friday night massacre has reached 129, officials
said. French Prime Minister Manuel Valls said today that the bodies of
103 victims have been identified while 20 to 30 victims remain
unidentified.
At least 352 people were injured, including 99 people in critical condition.
As the investigation into the attack continues, the country remained on
edge, and French police advised people to stay home as much as possible.
A black car suspected to be used by the gunmen was found six miles from
Paris, in the suburb of Montreuil, French news agency AFP reported. A
prosecutor's spokeswoman confirmed to ABC News that a car with several
Kalashnikovs was found this morning in Montreuil, but further details
were not immediately available.
The U.S. will contribute to the investigation, as five FBI agents have
left for Paris, a law enforcement official briefed on the situation told
ABC News. The FBI's specific role was not immediately clear.
Pope Francis this morning expressed his "deep sorrow for the terrorist
attacks," saying, "to the President of the Republic of France and all
the citizens I offer the expression of my deepest sympathy."
"I am particularly close to the families of those who lost their
relatives and to those who were injured," he said. "Such barbarity
leaves us shocked and we wonder how can a human heart conceive and
organize such horrible acts, that have shocked France and the whole
world."
In memory of the victims, the 28 member states of the European Union
will join France in a minute of silence Monday at noon Paris time.
Public cultural establishments, including museums and theaters, are
expected to reopen Monday afternoon in Paris and its surrounding
suburbs, said the Minister of Culture and Communication.
