Phone tapping revealed that mastermind believed to be behind carnage was holed up in a suburban apartment in France

This undated image made available in the Islamic State's English-language magazine Dabiq, shows Abdelhamid Abaaoud, who was identified by French authorities as the presumed mastermind of the terror attacks in Paris on November 13, 2015. (Photo via AP)
This undated image made available in the Islamic State’s English-language magazine Dabiq, shows Abdelhamid Abaaoud, who was identified by French authorities as the presumed mastermind of the terror attacks in Paris on November 13, 2015. (Photo via AP)

 

A Belgian jihadi suspected of masterminding the deadly attacks in Paris last week was traced to a suburban apartment building, where he was later killed in a police raid, after security forces learned of his whereabouts while listening in on phone conversations of his female suspected accomplice, Reuters reported Saturday.

According to Reuters, following a series of attacks in Paris, which left at least 129 people dead and hundreds more wounded, police focused their efforts on Hasna Ait Boulahcen, a 26-year-old woman who was already under surveillance for a drug-related investigation.

Ait Boulahcen was known to have ties to Abdelhamid Abaaoud, 27, suspected of orchestrating the Paris attacks. Phone surveillance revealed that Ait Boulahcen was residing in a building in Saint-Denis, and investigators were able to determine that Abaaoud, originally believed to be in Syria, was in fact in France and staying with the woman at the suburban apartment.

Both Abaaoud and Ait Boulahcen were killed in a chaotic and bloody seven-hour raid on the Saint-Denis apartment on Wednesday. Abaaoud was identified based on skin samples. Ait Boulahcen was initially believed to have blown herself up during the raid, but investigators later determined that she had not detonated an explosive device and herself and was probably killed during the shootout.

Eight more people were arrested during and after the raid.

On Wednesday, Paris prosecutor Francis Molins said that investigators found a cell phone in a garbage can outside the Bataclan concert hall in eastern Paris where 89 of the victims of Friday’s carnage died. It contained a text message sent about 20 minutes after the massacre began. “We’re off, it’s started,” it read.

Members of the BRI, a special unit of the French police, are at work in the northern Paris suburb of Saint-Denis city center, on November 18, 2015, as French Police special forces raid an apartment, hunting those behind the attacks that claimed 129 lives in the French capital five days ago. (AFP/ KENZO TRIBOUILLARD)
Members of the BRI, a special unit of the French police, are at work in the northern Paris suburb of Saint-Denis city center, on November 18, 2015, as French Police special forces raid an apartment, hunting those behind the attacks that claimed 129 lives in the French capital five days ago. (AFP/ KENZO TRIBOUILLARD)

Molins said investigators were still trying to identify the recipient of the message.

French authorities have said most of the Friday terrorists — five have been identified so far — were unknown to them.

But two US officials said that many, though not all, of those identified were on the US no-fly list.

France declared a state of emergency after the attacks, and security forces have conducted 414 raids, making 60 arrests and seizing 75 weapons, including 11 military-style firearms, the Interior Ministry said. Parliament was expected to vote by the end of the week to extend the state of emergency.

The state of emergency expands police powers to carry out arrests and searches, and allows authorities to forbid the movement of persons and vehicles at specific times and places.

As reported by The Times of Israel