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Paris terror unit was “ready to strike”

A “commando” of people arrested or killed in a massive police raid in a Paris apartment were a terror unit capable of staging a fresh attack, the city prosecutor says.

Nov 19, 2015, updated Nov 19, 2015
A family is escorted away during a raid on an apartment in the Saint-Denis suburb of Paris. Image: Steve Parsons/PA Wire

A family is escorted away during a raid on an apartment in the Saint-Denis suburb of Paris. Image: Steve Parsons/PA Wire

“A new team of terrorists was neutralised and all indications are that given their arms, their organisational structure and their determination, the commando could have struck,” said Paris prosecutor Francois Molins on Wednesday.

He also said police had found a cellphone belonging to one of the gunmen and suicide bombers who staged France’s worst-ever attacks on Friday, killing 129 people and injuring over 350.

The phone was found in a dustbin outside the Bataclan music venue, scene of the worst violence, where 89 people were gunned down.

A text message showed one of the gunmen had sent a message saying “we’re ready, let’s go.”

The message was sent at 9.42pm local time, before the attack, Molins said, adding that police were investigating who the message was sent to.

The suspected mastermind of the Paris attacks, Abdelhamid Abaaoud, was not among a number of people arrested in the raid.

At least two bodies were found in the apartment in Saint-Denis after the shootout with police, but they have not yet been identified, said Molins.

Picture taken of the building in the northern Paris suburb of Saint-Denis, on November 18, 2015, where French Police special forces raided an apartment, hunting those behind the attacks that claimed 129 lives in the French capital five days ago. French police said the assault had concluded on an apartment in northern Paris on November 18 in which at least two jihadists were killed and seven arrested.  AFP PHOTO / ERIC FEFERBERG

The building in the northern Paris suburb of Saint-Denis where French Police special forces raided an apartment. Two jihadists were killed and seven arrested in the raid. AFP PHOTO / ERIC FEFERBERG

TIMELINE OF THE PARIS DAWN RAIDS

– Around 04.20am local time (1420 AEDT): anti-terrorist police raid an apartment in Paris suburb Saint-Denis, home to the Stade de France stadium. Shooting breaks out.

– 04.31am: firemen say they have joined the operation against “an armed group holed up in an apartment”. Police say between two and four people are inside.

– Around 5am: intermittent gunfire can still be heard.

– 05.49am: two police officers have been injured, a source close to the probe says.

– 07.03am: At least one person is killed in the apartment, according to a source close to the raid.

– 07.30am: large explosions and firing are heard.

– 07.40am: local authorities recommend that local inhabitants stay indoors.

– 07.56am: two suspected jihadists holed up in the apartment die during the police siege, including a woman who detonated an explosives vest, according to police sources. At least three police are injured in the operation.

– 09.17am: three men holed up inside the apartment are arrested, while a man and woman are arrested nearby, according to the prosecutor’s office.

– 10.00am: a government meeting at the Elysee Palace held as the operation continues.

– 11.26am: police say the assault is over and that seven have been arrested, of which three in the targeted apartment, two in neighbouring apartments and another two in the neighbourhood.

AFP

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