French police find third body in apartment where Paris attack ringleader died

Forensics of the French police near the apartment where the raid was conducted

(Image credit: Marc Piasecki/Getty Images)

On Friday, the Paris prosecutor's office said that police have found a third body at the apartment in Saint-Denis where the suspected ringleader of last Friday's Paris terrorist attacks was killed during a police raid Wednesday morning. The new body was of a woman, but the office didn't identify her. French officials said Thursday that the remains of the ringleader, Abdelhamid Abaaoud, had been recovered from the apartment after the raid, but the prosecutor's office said neither of the other two bodies have been identified. A woman identified as Abaaoud's cousin, Hasna Aitboulahcen, was believed to have blown herself up with a suicide vest during the raid, and her passport was found in a handbag at the apartment.

Also on Friday, French officials said that Abaaoud has been spotted in CCTV footage of a Paris Metro station from when the attack was ongoing. The string of attacks, which killed 129 people, started at 9:20 p.m., and Abaaoud was captured on tape in the Croix de Chavaux station at 10:14 p.m., not too far from where police found one of the cars believed to have been used in the attacks.

The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Explore More

Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.