The hunt is now on for the surviving members and accomplices of the terrorist group that murdered 129 people in Paris.
Salah Abdeslam has now been named as a main suspect by the police. The Brussels-born 26-year-old was reportedly stopped by officers after the attacks – but was let go, the BBC reported.
Abdeslam is understood to have rented a VW Polo car that was found near one of the sites of Friday’s attacks – the Bataclan concert hall, where 89 people were killed. It’s thought the car was used by one of the attackers.
He was stopped near the Belgian border on Saturday with two other men, but the police let them go after checks. It’s thought the police hadn’t connected him to the VW Polo at this point.
Abdeslam has been described by police as dangerous, and have warned the public not the approach him.
The French news channel BFMTV quoted a source close to the investigation as claiming he and another attacker were known to the Belgian authorities.
According to the BBC two of Abdeslam’s brothers were also involved in the attacks. Brahim Abdeslam, 31, blew himself up at a bar near the Bataclan, on the Boulevard Voltaire, wounding one person.
The third brother, Mohammed, is reported to have been arrested in Brussels while returning from Paris. He remains in custody.
According to officials, police suspected the brothers after discovering two rental cars registered in Belgium, the VW Polo and a Seat. The second car was discovered in a Paris suburb with Kalashnikov rifles inside.
PM Manuel Valls has confirmed that French police are carrying out searches of suspected Islamic extremists across the country.
French media say a police operation connected to the attacks took place in the Parisian suburb of Bobigny. Raids were also conducted in Jeumont, near the Belgian border, and Grenoble and Toulouse, although it’s unclear whether these were linked to the incident in the French capital.
Seven terrorists died in the attack on Paris, most of them by detonating suicide belts.
