TerrorismParis terrorist attacks’ mastermind captured
The Belgian police an hour ago captured Salah Abdeslam, the 26-year old French national who was the mastermind behind the 13 November 2015 terrorist attacks in Paris which killed 130 people. “We got him,” the Belgian justice minister declared after confirming that Abdeslam had been captured during the operation in the Brussels’ neighborhod of Molenbeek.
The Belgian police an hour ago captured Salah Abdeslam, the 26-year old French national who was the mastermind behind the 13 November 2015 terrorist attacks in Paris which killed 130 people.
The police said he was injured during the firefight which preceded his capture, but that the injuries are not serious.
“We got him,” the Belgian justice minister declared after confirming that Abdeslam had been captured during the operation in the Brussels’ neighborhod of Molenbeek.
Another man has been arrested and a third is reportedly “holed up” in a building Derniere Heure reported.
Belgium’s public broadcaster RTBF reported that two people have been injured in the raid — Abdeslam and another being a police officer,.
Le Monde reports that Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel left a European Union summit on the refugee crisis early as the raid unfolded.
Earlier today, Belgian federal prosecutors confirmed they found Abdelslam’s in a Brussels raid on Tuesday (see “Fingerprints of Paris attacks’ mastermind found in Brussels flat,” HSNW, 18 March 2016).
Abdeslam, who was supposed to blow himself up in the 13 November attacks, was captured on a Paris train-station CCTV removing his suicide vest, before calling friends in Brussels to come and pick him up.
The French police say that Abdeslam is one of two Paris terrorists to escape alive. The second terrorist, Mohamed Abrini, is still wanted by police.
