Suspected architect of Paris attacks is dead, according to two senior intelligence officialsGunfire broke out in the northern Paris suburb of Saint-Denis early on Nov. 18 as police pursued suspects from the terror attacks on Nov. 13. Witnesses documented the flood of police into the historic suburb as the raid grew. (Jenny Starrs/The Washington Post)

ByAnthony Faiola,Missy RyanandSouad Mekhennet-November 18Gunfire broke out in the northern Paris suburb of Saint-Denis early on Nov. 18 as police pursued suspects from the terror attacks on Nov. 13. Witnesses documented the flood of police into the historic suburb as the raid grew. (Jenny Starrs/The Washington Post)PARIS French police commandos killed the suspected ringleader of the Paris attacks in a massive predawn raid Wednesday, two senior European intelligence officials said, after investigators followed leads that the fugitive militant was holed up north of the French capital and could be plotting another wave of violence.More than 100 police and soldiers stormed an apartment building in the suburb of Saint-Denis during a seven-hour siege that left two dead, including the suspected overseer of the Paris bloodshed, Abdelhamid Abaaoud, a Belgian extremist who had once boasted he could slip easily between Europe and the Islamic State strongholds in Syria.[LIVE updates from Paris and elsewhere]After the raid, forsenics experts combed through the aftermath blown-out windows, floors collapsed by explosions presumably seeking DNA and other evidence. The intelligence officials spoke on condition of anonymity before announcements from authorities.Paris prosecutor Franois Molins, speaking to reporters hours after the siege, said a discarded cellphone helped identify a series of safe houses used by attackers to plan Fridays coordinated assaults, which killed 129 people and wounded more than 350 across Paris.Molins said police launched the raid because they believed that Abaaoud may have been entrenched on the third floor of the apartment building. He said he could not yet provide the identities of the two people who died at the scene, but he added that neither Abaaoud nor another wanted suspect, Salah Abdeslam, was among a total of eight people who were arrested at the apartment and other locations Wednesday. Three people were arrested in the raid on the apartment, he said, one of whom had a gunshot wound in the arm.Two senior European officials, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss intelligence matters, confirmed that Abaaoud was killed in the raid.Molins said the safe houses indicated a huge logistics plan, meticulously carried out.The death of Abaaoud closes one major dragnet in the international search for suspects from Fridays carnage.

But it raised other worrisome questions, including the apparent ability of Abaaoud to evade intelligence agencies while traveling through Europe and whether other possible Islamic State cells could be seeking to strike again.

It also left no doubt that other potential threats remained.The raid on an apartment building in the Saint-Denis suburb appeared to be linked in part to plans to stage a follow-up terrorist attack in the La Defense business district, about 10 miles away, two police officials and an investigator close to the investigation said. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief media.As security forces closed in, a woman set off a suicide blast possibly an explosive-rigged vest or belt after opening fire. At least eight people seven men and one woman were arrested before the showdown was over in the historic heart of Saint-Denis, a teeming quarter with a large immigrant population.French media identified the suicide bomber as Hasna Aitboulahcen, a cousin of Abaaouds. The 26-year-old French citizen is a former manager of Beko Construction, a company in Epinay-sur-Seine, a town north of Saint-Denis. That company was closed in 2014.Five days after the worst violence on French soil since World War II, European nations remained on edge, enhancing vigilance against possible attacks by Islamist militants who have promised to bring the brutal tactics employed in Iraq and Syria to the West.[Why French airstrikes on ISISs capital probably havent done much]President Franois Hollande, seeking to reassure French citizens unnerved by the bloodshed on the streets of Paris, said the attacks would not alter the French way of life.We are at war against terrorism, terrorism which declared war on us, Hollande said at a meeting of French mayors. It is the [Islamic State] jihadist organization. It has an army. It has financial resources. It has oil. It has a territory.It has allies in Europe, including in our country, he continued, with young, radicalized Islamist people. It committed atrocities there and wants to kill here. It has killed here.He renewed his case for an extension to a state of emergency decreed after the attacks and for changes to the constitution that he said would make France safer.When Wednesdays raid began, heavily armed police clad in military gear some with their faces covered by balaclavas moved quickly through the dark streets, while helicopters scanned the streets from the skies. For hours, traffic and public transportation were halted, and schools were shuttered.
Authorities say as many as 20 people may have been involved in the plot to attack Paris. Here's what we know about them so far. (Gillian Brockell/The Washington Post)Uthayaseelan Sanmugan, a 38-year-old cook who lives near the targeted apartment, said he woke up at 4:30 a.m. to the sound of gunfire, went to his window and saw the lights of weapon lasers outside.When I got to the street, I saw a lot of blood on the sidewalk. The blood of the terrorists.Residents were instructed to stay inside their homes.I heard gunshots, and, sometime around 7 a.m., a huge blast, an explosion, said Kelly Ovo, a 45-year-old day laborer who lives close to the apartment under siege.French police reported that Diesel, a 7-year-old police dog, was killed by the terrorists in the raid.Molins, the Paris prosecutor, told reporters that the operation was launched after authorities had received information potentially tips or intelligence information that Abaaoud was in the area.Abaaoud, an ardent Islamic State supporter linked to several other terrorist attempts, was believed to be in Syria earlier this year. But some officials speculate he could have returned to Europe, perhaps passing undetected among the flood of asylum seekers pouring into Greek islands from Turkey.The siege appeared to have been aided by another potential breakthrough in the probe: the discovery of a mobile phone in a garbage can near the Bataclan Concert Hall, the site of one of Fridays assaults.The phones data contained a map of the music venue, French media reported, along with a chilling text message sent shortly after the first gunmen entered: Lets go, were starting.[The mystery surrounding the Paris bomber with a fake Syrian passport]The information on the mobile phone opened fresh leads, including to an apartment southeast of Paris in Alfortville, according to Mediapart, a French news outlet.The hunt for suspects in Fridays attacks, which took place at a concert hall, several bars and restaurants, and a soccer match, French officials cast a wide net for potential suspects. Across France, 118 additional raids were conducted overnight on Tuesday, with at least 25 arrests. That brought to 414 the total number of raids launched throughout France since Fridays attack, the Interior Ministry said.After Fridays assaults, which laid bare the shortcomings of European intelligence agencies ability to prevent militant attacks, officials across the continent have remained on high alert.In Copenhagen, a terminal at the citys international airport was briefly evacuated after an overheard conversation about a bomb, police said in a Twitter post. The terminal was later reopened.Countries including Sweden and Italy raised terror alerts. Extra security was posted in St. Peters Square, where Pope Francis addressed pilgrims.French authorities, meanwhile, issued a pan-European bulletin asking people to watch for a Citroen Xsara car that could be carrying Salah Abdeslam, a French militant also accused of having a direct role in the attacks, the Spanish news site El Espaol reported Wednesday.On Tuesday, authorities in Hanover, Germany, abruptly called off a friendly soccer match between Germany and the Netherlands that Chancellor Angela Merkel had planned to attend. One target of Fridays attacks was a friendly soccer match between France and Germany at a crowded stadium north of Paris - not far from the Saint-Denis raids. No explosives were found at the German site.

In Brussels, another soccer match between Belgium and Spain was also canceled Tuesday.But Frances secretary of sport, Thierry Braillard, said soccer matches around the country will go ahead as planned. Life must go on, he told the sports newspaper LEquipe. German officials said soccer matches would be played as scheduled as well.In a measure of French concerns, the country on Tuesday invoked for the first time a European Union mutual aid pact that calls for members of the bloc to assist other member states if they are attacked.[The bombs exploded, and Frances president called it war. It was 1986.]France continued airstrikes Tuesday night against Islamic State targets in Syria, a significant escalation of its military participation in the U.S.-led campaign against the Islamic State. Also on Wednesday, Frances only aircraft carrier, the Charles de Gaulle, embarked from Toulon port en route to the eastern Mediterranean, where its fighter jets will take part in operations against the militant group.Also Tuesday, Russia conducted a significant number of strikes on Raqqa, possibly using sea-launched cruise missiles and long-range bombers, a U.S. defense official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss the Russian operation. Those strikes follow the Russian governmentsassessmentthat explosives brought down an airliner full of Russian tourists over Egypt last month. The Islamic State claimed responsibility for that attack.Bruce Riedel, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, who spent 30 years serving in the CIA, said raids in Paris are also likely focusing on hunting down the groups bombmaker. Suicide belts worn by the assailants were likely assembled in Europe, rather being smuggled in, he said.That means that theres somebody somewhere close to Paris that knows how to make suicide belts, he said. I suspect that whoever had those skills wasnt wanted in the operation. A bombmaker is very important in a terrorist group.

Daniela Deane in London, Virgile Demoustier, Emily Badger and Karla Adam in Paris, and Loveday Morris in Baghdad contributed to this report.Posted byThavam