Suspected mastermind behind Paris attacks killed

(Reuters) -- The suspected mastermind of last week's Paris attacks was killed in the police raid of an apartment north of the capital, French officials said on Thursday (November 19).

Abdelhamid Abaaoud, a 28-year-old Belgian militant who had boasted of mounting attacks in Europe for the Islamic State, was accused of orchestrating last Friday's coordinated bombings and shootings in the French capital, which killed 129 people.

See photos of the suspects in the Paris attacks:

The Paris prosecutor said it was his body they had discovered in the building, riddled with bullets, a day after the pre-dawn raid. The prosecutor later added that it was unclear whether Abaaoud had detonated a suicide belt.

Prime Minister Manuel Valls broke the news in Parliament to applause from lawmakers who were voting on Thursday to extend the country's state of emergency for another three months.

"Most of you already know this but thanks to the operation that was lead yesterday, the raid by the BRI (elite research and intervention police units), the French prosecutor has just confirmed that we now know that Abaaoud, the mastermind of the attacks - or one of the masterminds should I say, we should remain prudent, we know the extent of the threat - was found amongst those who were killed. I would like to pay tribute once again to the incredible work done by our intelligence services and the police," Valls told reporters.

Confirmation that Abaaoud was in Paris will focus more attention on European security services, who ahead of Friday's attacks had thought he was still in Syria.

Early on Wednesday morning, investigations led police to the house where Abaaoud was holed up in the Paris suburb of St. Denis. Heavily armed officers stormed the building before dawn, triggering a massive firefight and multiple explosions.

Officials had said on Wednesday that two people were killed in the raid, including a female suicide bomber who blew herself up. Forensic scientists were trying to determine whether a third person had died. Eight people were arrested.

Two police sources and a source close to the investigation told Reuters the St. Denis cell had been planning a fresh attack on Paris's La Defense business district. A source close to the investigation said the female bomber who was killed might have been Abaaoud's cousin.

Investigators believe the attacks -- the deadliest in France since World War Two -- were set in motion in Syria, with Islamist cells in neighboring Belgium organizing the mayhem.

RELATED GALLERY: See photos of how New York has stepped up security after the Paris attacks:

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