Two Dead, Seven Arrested As Police Raid Paris Apartment in Search for Terrorist Of Paris Attack

With 2 dead and 7 have been arrested after a police raid in Paris on Wednesday, Nov. 18, the New York Times reports. The incident, which took place in Paris’ St.-Denis suburb early in the morning, was an attempt to find several terrorists involved in the horrific attacks from Friday, Nov. 13, which left 129 dead.

One of the casualties on Wednesday was a woman who opened fire before detonating an explosive vest after the raid began. A male, described to theTimes by police as “another terrorist” also died “from a combination of gunfire and the detonation of a grenade,” the paper reports. Several of the suspects were located on the third floor of a building on the Rue Du Corbillon.

Officials confirmed to NBC News that Abdelhamid Abaaoud was one of the targets of the raid. Calling the Belgian jihadist a suspected “lynchpin” of the attacks, NBC noted that officials would not confirm whether Abaaoud had been captured or killed during Wednesday morning’s raid.

“It is currently impossible to give you the identities of the people who were arrested, which are being verified,” the Paris prosecutor, François Molins, told the New York Times after the raid. “Everything will be done to determine who is who.”

Abaaoud’s location has not been clear since the terrorist acts in Paris, BBC News notes. Initially he was thought to have executed the bombings and shootings from Syria, but Molins has since told BBC that intelligence pointed to him still being in Paris. The BBC also reports that Molins said the woman who died in the raid was a relative of Abaaoud.