France Conducts 150 Raids on Islamists
Armed soldiers stand guard
outside the courthouse where suspects are expected to be questioned in the
fatal shootings in Paris on Friday, in Brussels, Belgium, November 16, 2015.
PARIS—
French police have made "more than 150
raids" on suspected Islamists across the country, French Prime Minister
Manuel Valls said Monday.
The raids were carried out early Monday in
Toulouse, Grenoble, Jeumont, Lyon and the Parisian suburb of Bobigny, resulting
in the detaining of more than 10 people and the seizure of a number of weapons,
including a rocket launcher, a Kalashnikov rifle and bulletproof vests.
Valls said France has "avoided several
attacks," but there could be more "in the coming days, in the coming
weeks." The prime minister said he is not trying to scare people but
"we're living with and we're going to live for a long time, with this
terrorist threat and we need to prepare ourselves for further attacks."
The raids and arrests were made as France prepares
Monday for a midday moment of silence to pay homage to the victims of Friday's
terrorism attacks on six sites across Paris, killing 129 people and wounding
more than 350. The death toll had stood at 132, but was lowered after an
apparent counting error. French President Francois Hollande is scheduled
to mark the silent remembrance at the Sorbonne.
The European Union has asked all its member states
to also participate in the silent observation. Officials at NATO
headquarters in Brussels will also observe the minute of silence.
'Act of war'
On Sunday, French fighter jets launched massive
airstrikes against the Islamic State (IS) stronghold of Raqqa, destroying a
command post and a training camp.
The planes took off from Jordan and the United Arab
Emirates and were operating in conjunction with U.S. forces
A French military statement said 10 fighter jets
were used to drop 20 bombs on the Islamic State targets. It was France’s
biggest strike to date targeting IS in Syria, and it comes after the terrorist
group claimed responsibility for the series of attacks in Paris that killed
more than 130 people Friday night.
President Hollande has called Friday’s gun and
suicide attacks an "act of war."
In a possibly related development, Reuters News
Agency is reporting that the United States has made a second delivery of
ammunition to the Syrian Arab coalition fighting IS in northern Syria.
Reuters quotes a U.S. official as saying the
weaponry was delivered over land. A previous supply mission was conducted by
air in October.
This photo released Nov. 9, 2015, by the French
Army shows a French Mirage 2000 jet on the tarmac of an undisclosed air base as
part of France's Operation Chammal launched in September 2015 in support of the
U.S-led. coalition against Islamic State group.
Investigation
While authorities believe that there were only
eight actual attackers, they think that about 20 people were involved.
French prosecutors said Monday one suicide bomber has been identified as Samy
Amkimour, a 28-year-old Frenchman charged in a terrorism investigation in
2012. He had been placed under judicial supervision, but had disappeared
and an international arrest warrant had been issued for him.
Prosecutors said three people in Amkimour's family
were detained early Monday.
Prosecutors said another suicide bomber was found
with a Syrian passport with the name Ahmad Al Mohammad, a 25-year-old born in
Idlib. The prosecutor's office said the attacker's fingerprint matched someone
who passed through Greece in October.
French police have also released a photo of a
suspect who is still at large from the Friday night attack on Paris.
The suspect is identified as Salah Abdeslam, a
26-year-old man born in Brussels, Belgium. The posting soliciting information
about the so-called eighth attacker warns that he is dangerous and that anyone
with information should call authorities.
Media sources are reporting that French officials
stopped Abdeslam hours after the attacks Friday night. They pulled him over on
a roadway near the Belgian border in a car with two other people, questioned
the three and released them.
People hold candles and pay their respect at
Grigoris Auxentiou square in the southern port city of Limassol, Cyprus,
Sunday, Nov. 15, 2015.
He is one of three French brothers linked to the
string of near simultaneous attacks across Paris.
Another brother - Salah Ibrahim - blew himself up
at the Bataclan music hall, during an attack there that killed more than 80
people. Belgium authorities are detaining the third brother.
Police in both France and Belgium have made several
arrests and also are questioning family members and other people linked to the
other suspected assailants.
Several of the Paris suicide bombers have been
identified, including Bilal Hafdi of Belgium, who was one of the suicide
bombers at the stadium.
French police Sunday questioned close relatives of
Omar Ismail Mostefai, the first terrorist identified in the attack.
Mostefai's father, brother and sister-in-law were
among six people authorities detained. He was one of seven attackers, all of
them wearing suicide vests packed with explosives, who died during the
simultaneous attacks, with six of them blowing themselves up and the seventh
killed in a shootout with police.
French prosecutor Francois Molins said Mostefai was
known to police as a petty criminal, but had "never been implicated in an
investigation or a terrorist association." The 29-year-old Mostefai lived
in Chartres, near Paris.
While authorities believe that there were only 8
actual attackers, they think that about 20 people were involved and of those,
10 are still unaccounted for.
People place flowers and light candles for the
victims of the deadly attacks in Paris, outside the French Embassy in Warsaw,
Poland, Nov. 15, 2015.
Panic in Paris
Hundreds of Parisians who had gathered to observe
vigils at the Place de la République and Carillion Café, one of the places that
was attacked, panicked Sunday when sudden noises sent them running.
VOA's Daniel Schearf said he was shooting video
footage at the first location where a crowd of about 2,000 had gathered mostly
to mourn, although a small group was showing defiance and singing. A scream was
heard somewhere at the center of the crowd and as he heard more screams people
ran, emptying the square in a matter of minutes.
The Associated Press reports that the crowd was
spooked by fire crackers.
The Place de la République was the scene of massive
peace demonstrations after January’s Paris attacks.
Hundreds of people packed Notre Dame Cathedral for
an evening mass Sunday and Paris' Grand Synagogue held a special prayer vigil.
Observances were held in cities throughout France.
Rifles found
Police said Sunday three AK-47 assault rifles were
found in a black Seat Leon car used by gunmen who fired on people at bars and
restaurants. The Spanish-manufactured car was discovered parked on a street in
the eastern suburb of Montreuil.
A second car believed involved in the attack, a
Volkswagen Polo, was found at the Bataclan concert hall where 89 people were
killed.
French authorities say a Syrian passport was found
next to the body of one of the attackers. Greece said the man entered Europe as
part of the influx of migrants fleeing Syria's civil war.
"We confirm that the [Syrian] passport holder
came through the Greek island of Leros on October 3, where he was registered
under EU rules," said Nikos Toskas, the Greek minister for citizen
protection. Serbian and Croatian authorities say the man passed through their
checkpoints in the days after that.
FILE - A dinghy carrying refugees and migrants,
crosses the Aegean Sea from Turkey to the Greek island of Lesbos, Nov. 10,
2015.
Claim of responsibility
In its claim of responsibility, Islamic State
lashed out at the countries trying to suppress its attempt to establish a
"caliphate" in Syria and Iraq, and said France remains "at the
top" of its list of preferred targets.
An Islamic State message posted online Saturday
said the Paris attacks were a response to the airstrikes the United States and
its allies have been launching against its fighters in Iraq and Syria for more
than a year.
Six sites across Paris were attacked, including
restaurants, a football (soccer) stadium and the Bataclan concert hall.
The Islamic State singled out France in its online
statement. "The stench of death will not leave their noses," it said
of French leaders.
France Conducts 150 Raids on Islamists
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