Soldiers patrol in St. Denis, a northern suburb of Paris. (AP PHOTO)
SAINT-DENIS, France — A woman wearing an explosive suicide vest blew herself up yesterday as heavily armed police tried to storm a suburban Paris apartment where the suspected mastermind of last week’s gun and bomb rampage was believed to be holed up, police said.
They said one man was also killed and five people arrested in the standoff, which began before dawn and continued more than five hours later. One person remained inside the apartment.
A senior police official said he believed Abdelhamid Abaaoud, a Belgian Islamic State militant, was inside the apartment in the Paris suburb of Saint-Denis with five other heavily armed people.
The official, who was not authorized to be publicly named according to police rules but is informed routinely about the operation, said scores of police stormed the building and were met with unexpectedly violent resistance.
Another police official not authorized to be publicly named because of police rules said four police officers were injured. No hostages were being held.
The Paris prosecutor’s office said SWAT teams arrested three people in the apartment. It said they haven’t been identified yet.
Another man and woman were detained near the apartment, the office said in a statement.
French President Francois Hollande held an emergency meeting with senior ministers at the Elysee Palace to monitor the raid.
Residents said an explosion shook the neighborhood at about 4 am.
“Then there was a second big explosion. Then two more explosions. There was an hour of gunfire,” said Baptiste Marie, a 26-year-old independent journalist who lives in the neighborhood.
Disclaimer: The comments uploaded on this site do not necessarily represent or reflect the views of management and owner of Cebudailynews. We reserve the right to exclude comments that we deem to be inconsistent with our editorial standards.
