Gunfire erupts in Paris as police hunt suspected attack leader

[dunksby]

Gunfire and explosions shook the Paris suburb of St Denis early on Wednesday as French police surrounded a building where a Belgian Islamist militant suspected of masterminding last week's attacks in the French capital was believed to be holed up.

Two assailants were killed, including a woman who detonated a suicide bomb, a source close to the case said, adding that the police operation was continuing to flush out two other suspects.

The target of the raid, which filled the streets of St Denis with heavily armed police and soldiers, was Islamic State militant Abdelhamid Abaaoud, who was initially thought to have orchestrated the Paris attacks from Syria, police and justice sources said.

A judicial source said police had originally been hunting other suspects in St Denis, but now believed he was one of those barricaded in the building.

Shooting began at about 4.30 a.m. (10.30 p.m. ET) and police special forces of the RAID unit were still involved in exchanges of fire three hours later, witnesses said.

"The operation is still under way. It's not over," local member of parliament Mathieu Hanotin said on France Inter radio. "Everyone must stay indoors. There are still gunmen holed up in the apartment."

Three police officers and a passerby were injured in the assault.

A police source said three suspects had been arrested so far with security forces still trying to "neutralize" two more at the scene close to the Stade de France stadium which was one of the targets of last Friday's attacks.

The coordinated series of bombings and shootings killed 129 people, the worst atrocity in France since World War Two. Investigators soon linked the attacks to a militant cell in Belgium which was in contact with Islamic State in Syria.

Kill all of them
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/...2Egq4wocL0l.97

[dunksby]

Two dead, seven arrests in police raid on Saint-Denis apartment

Two people holed up in a flat in the Paris suburb of Saint-Denis have died and seven have been arrested so far in an ongoing police raid, a source close to the investigation said on Wednesday.

A woman blew herself up at the house during the raid, Paris prosecutor's office had said earlier on Wednesday. French media said a sniper had killed the second person but the source said it was too early to say.

[Draz]

Must be scary there. Not knowing who's going to do what at any given time and how since they don't mind blowing themselves up.

[KevinNYC]

Two dead, seven arrests in police raid on Saint-Denis apartment

It's amazing that they got 7 live people to arrest after a night of shooting and suicide vest being set off.

5 cops injured but none killed.

I hope they got the main guy.

[KevinNYC]

Three sources told Reuters the raid stopped a jihadist cell that had been planning an attack on Paris's business district, La Defense, after coordinated bombings and shootings killed 129 across the city.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/...DrrRtYLtAyg.99

[UK2K]

It's amazing that they got 7 live people to arrest after a night of shooting and suicide vest being set off.

5 cops injured but none killed.

I hope they got the main guy.

Because the people being arrested aren't the ones willing to strap a suicide vest to themselves.

They handle the logistics, and then get the idiots to do their work. That's how things are done in the ME. Keep the peons stupid and uneducated, and they'll handle your dirty work.

[DonDadda59]

Because the people being arrested aren't the ones willing to strap a suicide vest to themselves.

They handle the logistics, and then get the idiots to do their work. That's how things are done in the ME. Keep the peons stupid and uneducated, and they'll handle your dirty work.

That's how it works everywhere in the World, since time immemorial. The people here who vote in favor of war/battles and plan the logistics aren't the ones stepping on land mines and chasing dudes around in the mountains of Afghanistan.

[KevinNYC]

Because the people being arrested aren't the ones willing to strap a suicide vest to themselves.

They handle the logistics, and then get the idiots to do their work. That's how things are done in the ME. Keep the peons stupid and uneducated, and they'll handle your dirty work.

I get that, I'm just talking about a shoot out that lasted several hours and a suicide vest in a small apartment. Perhaps the arrested are severally wounded, but it seems surprising there was enough left to arrest.

You wonder how far away from the suicide vest they were when it went off.

I saw this on the new last night before I went to bed and it was going on for a while. So I was surprised this morning to hear there were arrests.

[fiddy]

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=b79_1447846996 this fellow died, while fulfilling his duties

[Dresta]

That's how it works everywhere in the World, since time immemorial. The people here who vote in favor of war/battles and plan the logistics aren't the ones stepping on land mines and chasing dudes around in the mountains of Afghanistan.

Since time immemorial?

Man clearly hasn't read about Caesar, Pompey, Hannibal, Alexander, John of Brienne, Julian the Apostate, Alcibiades, and a whole long litany of others military leaders who had no problem instigating war and throwing themselves into the frontline.

Military leaders used to be heavily involved in battles, and until recently, it would usually be seen as an act of cowardice not to be capable of leading your men into the field of battle.