Deadly Raid Targets Mastermind in Paris Terror Attack

A seven-hour raid in a Paris suburb ended Wednesday with two suspected terrorist dead, including one female suicide bomber who blew herself up.

The raid in the St. Denis neighborhood happened as authorities were hunting down the ringleaders in the bombings that killed 129 people Friday in Paris. 

Paris police closed in on an apartment where they believe more than a dozen ISIS operatives were hiding out.

Prosecutor Francois Molins said the raid was launched after information from tapped telephone conversations, surveillance and witness accounts indicated that the suspected planner of the attacks, Abdelhamid Abaaoud, might be in a safe house in the district.

Twenty-seven-year-old Abaaoud, a Belgian of Moroccan descent, was believed to be the chief leader of Friday's attacks in Paris.
 
A U.S. official briefed on intelligence matters said Abaaoud was a key figure in an Islamic State external operations cell that U.S. intelligence agencies have been tracking for many months.
 
Abaaoud was believed to be in Syria after a January police raid in Belgium, and bragged in Islamic State propaganda of his ability to move back and forth between Europe and Syria undetected, reports The Associated Press.
 
Speaking at the scene of Wednesday's raid, Molins said the operation began with a pre-dawn shootout and resulted in the capture of three people inside the apartment, the death of a woman who set off an explosive charge, and the death of "another terrorist ... who was hit by projectiles and grenades" in the initial assault.
 
He said two people were detained while trying to hide in the rubble, and two others were also arrested, including the man who had provided the apartment.

"As things stand, it is impossible to give you the identities of the people detained, which are being verified," Molins said. "All will be done to determine who is who, and based on the work of forensic police, we'll tell you who was in the apartment - and what consequences it will have for the development of the investigation."

It was not confirmed if other suspects remain at large.