They said one man
was also killed and seven people arrested in the standoff, which began before
dawn and continued more than six hours later, when a loud bang rang out around
the streets near the apartment building.
Police said one person was thought to be
still inside the apartment, but it wasn't clear who.
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 when the raid started.
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 nearby, 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 shortly after 4 a.m. (0300GMT).
"We guessed it
was linked to Friday night," said Yves Steux, barman at L'escargot
restaurant 250 meters (yards) from the assault."My wife panicked and was
scared and told me not to leave, but I ignored her. Life goes on."
Baptiste Marie, a
26-year-old independent journalist who lives in the neighbourhood, said a second
large explosion was followed by "two more explosions. There was an hour of
gunfire."
Another witness,
Amine Guizani, said he heard the sound of grenades and automatic gunfire.
"It was
continuous. It didn't stop," he said. "It lasted from 4:20 until
5:30. It was a good hour. I couldn't say how many shots were fired, but it was
probably 500. Hundreds, definitely. There were maybe 10 explosions."
Sporadic bangs and
explosions continued, and at 7:30 a.m. (0630GMT) at least seven explosions
shook the center of Saint-Denis .
Associated Press reporters at the scene could hear what sounded like grenade
blasts from the direction of the standoff.
Investigators have
identified 27-year-old Abaaoud, a Belgian of Moroccan descent, as the chief
architect of Friday's attacks in Paris ,
which killed 129 people and injured 350 others.
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.
Police vans and
fire trucks rushed to the scene north of Paris ,
less than two kilometers (just over a mile) from the Stade de France stadium.
Three suicide bombers blew themselves up Friday near the stadium during an
international soccer match with French President Francois Hollande in
attendance.
In Saint-Denis on Wednesday, police cordoned off
the area nearby, including a pedestrian zone lined with shops and 19th-century
apartment buildings. Riot police cleared people from the streets, pointing guns
at curious residents to move them off the roads.
Saint-Denis Mayor
Didier Paillard said public transport was suspended and that schools in the
center of town would not open Wednesday.
Seven attackers
died in Friday's attacks, which targeted several bars and restaurants and the
Bataclan concert hall, as well as the national stadium. The Islamic State group
has claimed responsibility for the carnage.
Police had said
before the raids that they were hunting for two fugitives suspected of taking
part as well as any accomplices. That would bring the number of attackers to at
least nine.
French authorities
had previously said that at least eight people were directly involved in the
bloodshed: seven who died in the attacks and one who got away and slipped
across the border to Belgium .
However, there have
been gaps in officials' public statements, which have never fully disclosed how
many attackers took part in the deadly rampage.
On Tuesday,
officials told The Associated Press they now believe at least one other
attacker was involved and they were working to identify and track down that
suspect. Three officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not
authorized to provide details about the ongoing investigation.
Surveillance video
obtained by the AP also indicated that a team of three attackers carried out
the shootings at one of the cafes. The video was among evidence authorities
used in concluding that at least one other attacker was at large, the French
officials indicated.
The brief clip
shows two black-clad gunmen with automatic weapons calmly firing on the bar
then returning toward a waiting car, whose driver was maneuvering behind them.
Authorities believe the car is the same black SEAT-make vehicle that was found
Saturday with three Kalashnikovs inside.
Police have
identified one subject of their manhunt as Salah Abdeslam, whom French police
accidentally permitted to cross into Belgium on Saturday. One of his
brothers, Brahim, blew himself up in Paris .
Meanwhile, French
fighter jets attacked Islamic State targets in Syria for a third night. The French
defense ministry said 10 jets had hit two Islamic State command centers in the
militants' base of Raqqa , Syria .
The Paris attacks have galvanized international determination
to confront the Islamic State group in Syria
and Iraq , bringing France , Russia
and the United States
closer to an alliance.
Russian President
Vladimir Putin ordered the missile cruiser Moskva, currently in the
Mediterranean, to start cooperating with the French military on operations in Syria .
Meanwhile, U.S.
Secretary of State John Kerry said a cease-fire between Syria 's
government and the opposition could be just weeks away. He described it as
potentially a "gigantic step" toward deeper international cooperation
against IS.
France — and the
rest of Europe — remain on edge four days
after the attacks. Two Air France flights bound for Paris from the U.S. were
diverted Tuesday night — one to Salt Lake City and one to Halifax — because of
anonymous threats received after they had taken off. Both were inspected and
cleared to resume their journeys.
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