Paris attacks: Suspected ringleader Abdelhamid Abaaoud killed in police raid, prosecutor says

The Belgian jihadi suspected of plottingdeadly attacks in Paris died along with his cousin in a police raid on a suburban apartment building, officials said Thursday.

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Paris Prosecutor Franois Molins' office said 27-year-old Abdelhamid Abaaoud was identified based on skin samples, but authorities did not know how he died. His body was found in the apartment building targeted in the chaotic and bloody raid in the Paris suburb of Saint-Denis on Wednesday.

Three police officials say a woman who died in the raid was Abaaoud's cousin. One said Hasna Aitboulahcen is believed to have detonated a suicide vest after a brief conversation with police officers.

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The official confirmed an audio recording, punctuated by gunshots, in which an officer asks: "Where is your boyfriend?" and she responded angrily: "He's not my boyfriend!" Then loud bangs are heard.

The exact relationship between Abaaoud and Aitboulahcen was not clear.

The bodies recovered in the raid were badly mangled, with a part of Aitboulahcen's spine landing on a police car, complicating formal identification, according to one of the officials.

The officials all spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not permitted to divulge details of the investigation.

Police launched the operation after receiving information from tapped phone calls, surveillance and tipoffs suggesting that Abaaoud was holed up there. Eight people were arrested in the raid.

Late tip on suspect's location

FrenchInterior Minister BernardCazeneuvesaidofficials were told on Monday three days after the deadly attacks that killed 129 people thatAbaaoud had been spotted in Greece. He saidThursday the tip came from a country "outside of Europe."

Less than 48 hours later, Abaaoud was killed in the Saint-Denis police raid.

Greece disputed Cazeneuve's account of Abaaoud'smovements.

"There is no evidence, nothing has come up that shows that this person was in Greece," aseniorGreek Interior Ministry official told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Abaaoud was wanted on international warrants and had been sentenced in absentia in Belgium to 20 years in prison, Cazeneuve said.

Among other things, Abaaoud had been linked to the April attack on a church in the Parisian suburb of Villejuif in which a person was killed, and to an attack by a gunman on a high-speed train that was thwarted by three young Americans.

Warnings from French PM

With France still reeling from last week's deadly attacks in Paris, Prime Minister Manuel Valls warned Thursday that Islamic extremists might at some point use chemical or biological weapons

"Terrorism hit France not because of what it is doing in Iraq and Syria ... but for what it is," Valls told the lower house of parliament. He added, "We know that there could also be a risk of chemical or biological weapons."

Valls did not say there was a specific threat involving such weapons.

Following Valls' comments, the lower house of the French parliament voted to extend a state of emergency for three months after last week's deadly attacks.

After approval in the National Assembly on Thursday, the measure goes to the Senate on Friday, where it is likely to win approval.

The state of emergency expands police powers to carry out arrests and searches, and allows authorities to forbid the movement of persons and vehicles at specific times and places.

Raids in Belgium

In Belgium, authorities launched six raids in the Brussels region Thursday linked to Bilal Hadfi, one of the three suicide bombers who blew themselves up outside the Stade de France.

An official in the Belgian federal prosecutor's office told The Associated Press the raids were taking place in the suburb of Molenbeek and other areas of Brussels. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation is continuing, said the actions were focusing on Hadfi's "entourage."

BelgianPrime Minister Charles Michel on Thursday called for changes to the country's constitution to combat extremists, and promised hundreds of millions ofeurosto boost the security forces.

Addressing the federal parliament as security forces were conducting raids around the capital Brussels, Michel pledged to use changes to the constitution to extend preventive detention times for suspects from 24 hours to 72 hours.

He also affirmed that Belgium would move forward alone on a system of airline passenger information sharing that European Union nations have been incapable of agreeing in four years.

"The risk before us is the collapse of the entire European project if we don't take our responsibilities," he told the lawmakers.

"All democratic forces have to work together to strengthen our security," he said.

'Their place is in prison'

Michel said 400 millioneuroswould be earmarked to boost the security forces, and said special attention would be paid to eradicating messages of hate inspiring young people to fight in places like Syria and Iraq, or back at home later in Europe.

"Forjihadiswho return, their place is in prison," said Michel.

He dismissed criticism of Belgian police, saying they had provided vital information that led to a major police raid in the northern Paris suburb of Saint Denis on Wednesday.

Some 500 people are on Belgium's list of "radicalized" people, and about 30 people are known to have travelled to Syria as potential foreign fighters in theMolenbeekneighbourhood, a major source of extremists.

Michel said he would introduce a system for people considered a threat that would "impose the wearing of an electronic bracelet."

Stepped up airstrikes

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius urged the international community to do more to eradicate the Islamic State group, which claimed responsibility for last Friday's attacks on a rock concert, Parisian cafes and the national stadium.

Fabius, speaking on France-Inter radio, said the group "is a monster. But if all the countries in the world aren't capable of fighting against 30,000 people (ISIS members), it's incomprehensible."

France has stepped up its airstrikes against extremists in Syria since the attack, and French President Franois Hollande is going to Washington and Moscow next week to push for a stronger international coalition against ISIS.

Speaking after the seven-hour siege in Saint-Denis, Hollande said that France was "at war" with the Islamic State group.

In its English-language magazine, Islamic State said it will continue its violence and "retaliate with fire and bloodshed" for insults against the Prophet Muhammad and "the multitudes killed and injured in crusader airstrikes."