Biodun Iginla, BBC News

Biodun Iginla, BBC News

Sunday, November 15, 2015

Paris attacks: Omar Ismail Mostefai identified as assailant

by Natalie de Vallieres and Biodun Iginla, BBC News, Paris

5 minutes ago


One of the seven gunmen who killed 129 people in near-simultaneous attacks in Paris has been identified by French investigators.
He was named as Omar Ismail Mostefai, a 29-year-old French citizen of Algerian origin, who had a criminal record and was known to have been radicalised.
French prosecutors say the attacks were carried out by three coordinated teams of gunmen and suicide bombers.
France has begun three days of national mourning. Some 350 people were injured.
A special service for the families of the victims and survivors will be held at Paris's Notre Dame Cathedral later on Sunday.
Friday's attacks, claimed by Islamic State (IS) militants, hit a concert hall, a major stadium, restaurants and bars in the French capital.
What we know
New and frightening watermark
A new type of terrorism?
Prime Minister Manuel Valls has said France will continue with air strikes against IS in Syria, and described the group as a very well-organised enemy.
President Francois Hollande has cancelled his plans to attend the G20 in Turkey and is holding meetings with various political leaders to discuss the crisis.

History of petty crime

Mostefai was reportedly identified after investigators found a severed finger at the scene of the worst atrocity, the Bataclan concert hall where more than 80 people died.
Police are trying to find out whether he travelled to Syria in 2014, judicial sources told AFP.
His father and brother have been taken into police custody.
"It's crazy, insane. I was in Paris myself last night, I saw what a mess it was," Mostefai's older brother told AFP before being detained after voluntarily attending a police station on Saturday.
Media captionVigils were held across the world on Saturday to show solidarity with Paris
Mostefai came from the town of Courcouronnes, 25km (15 miles) south of Paris. He lived in the nearby town of Chartres until 2012, according to the local MP and deputy mayor Jean-Pierre Gorges.
He regularly attended the mosque in Luce, close to Chartres, AFP reported.
He had a history of petty crime but was never jailed. The security services deemed him to have been radicalised in 2010 but he was never implicated in a counter-terrorism investigation.
Mostefai's brother said he had not had contact with him for several years following family disputes, but said he was surprised to hear he had been radicalised.
He was one of six children in the family and had travelled to Algeria with his family and young daughter, the brother said.

Belgian link?

The investigation is also focusing on a possible link to Belgium after police there arrested three men near the French border.
A black Volkswagen Polo with Belgian registration found at the Bataclan had been rented by a Frenchman living in Belgium, the Paris chief prosecutor said.
The French national was identified while driving another vehicle in a spot check by police on Saturday morning as he crossed into Belgium with two passengers.
The BBC's Hugh Schofield in Paris says investigators are working on the theory that these three may be another team of attackers who managed to flee the scene.
Media captionHow the attacks in Paris unfolded on Friday night
Speaking in Paris, chief prosecutor Francois Molins told reporters: "We can say at this stage of the investigation there were probably three co-ordinated teams of terrorists behind this barbaric act.
"We have to find out where they came from... and how they were financed."
Mr Molins said the police were also investigating a black Seat used by gunmen at two of the attacks, which remains untraced.
A Syrian passport, found near the body of one of the attackers at the Stade de France, had been used to travel through the Greek island of Leros last month, Greek officials have confirmed.
French President Francois Hollande has imposed a state of emergency after the worst peacetime attack in France since World War Two. It is also the deadliest in Europe since the 2004 Madrid bombings.

Attack sites:

La Belle Equipe, 92 rue de Charonne, 11th district - 19 dead in gun attacks
Le Carillon bar and Le Petit Cambodge restaurant at rue Alibert, 10th district - 15 dead in gun attacks
La Casa Nostra restaurant, 92 rue de la Fontaine au Roi, 11th district - five dead in gun attacks
Stade de France, St Denis, just north of Paris - explosions heard outside venue, three attackers and bystander dead
Bataclan concert venue, 50 Boulevard Voltaire, 11th district - 89 dead when stormed by gunmen
Map
Images of aftermath of shootings
Eyewitness accounts from the scene
'I saw people on the ground and blood'
#Paris: Power, horror, and lies

Islamic State said it carried out the attacks on "carefully chosen targets" and were a response to France's involvement in the air strikes on IS militants in Syria and Iraq.
President Hollande said France had been "attacked in a cowardly shameful and violent way" and vowed to be "merciless" in its response to IS militants.
Are you in the area? Have you been affected by what has been happening? Do you have any information you can share? If it is safe to do so, you can get in touch by emailing haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk.
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