Great news. Abdelhamid Abaaoud — the 27-year-old Belgian “mastermind” of the attacks in Paris last Friday — was killed during the raid on an apartment in a suburb of Paris yesterday, according to French Prosecutors. It’s not yet clear how Abaaoud died, but his remains were identified in the rubble caused when a female terrorist blew herself up during the raid:
BREAKING: Suspected mastermind of Paris attacks, Abdelhamid Abaaoud, is dead, prosecutors confirm.https://t.co/9NynSJ72XU
— FOX & friends (@foxandfriends) November 19, 2015
MORE: Dead #ParisAttacks mastermind Abdel Hamid Abbaoud ID’d by fingerprints collected at scene in Saint-Denis: https://t.co/NWQTBLJ3P7
— ABC News (@ABC) November 19, 2015
#ParisAttack Ringleader Blown to Bits: https://t.co/nAxvVFcDkx pic.twitter.com/oE0ttTsf1m
— The Daily Beast (@thedailybeast) November 19, 2015
Abaaoud had long been on the radar of both French and U.S. intelligence agencies and seems to have been able to travel between Syria and France with some regularity:
The Mastermind Of The Paris Attacks Was Almost Killed By U.S. Forces https://t.co/wsfhTh9iVr pic.twitter.com/87Was67XD7
— MTV NEWS (@MTVNEWS) November 17, 2015
He was also linked to multiple terror attacks in France, including the one on a French train earlier this year that was thwarted by members of the U.S. military on while on vacation:
Just in: of 6 terror attacks across France this year, #Abaaoud involved in 4, played "definite role" in #ParisAttacks – Fr. Int. Min.
— Jim Sciutto (@jimsciutto) November 19, 2015
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Abdelhamid Abaaoud was also linked to thwarted train and church attacks
— TIMES NOW (@TimesNow) November 18, 2015
Abaaoud was already a suspect in a failed Jan plot in Belgium & Aug plot 2 shoot passengers on Paris-Brussels train https://t.co/1zmMiXusuU
— Matthew Levitt (@Levitt_Matt) November 17, 2015
And even his family wanted him dead:
Abdelhamid Abaaoud, an ISIS militant from Belgium whose own family wanted him dead https://t.co/Ne4wLy1MrV pic.twitter.com/MX9XIFfuUq
— The New York Times (@nytimes) November 18, 2015
Well, they got their wish.
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