First, some Nigerians, who are complaining that the terror attacks in France is getting more attention than Boko Haram killings, should understand that there is difference between domestic terrorism and ISIS which is organised international terrorism. Boko Haram is like Nigerians killing Nigerians. Sad!
Now to the updates: As the world mourned the over 130 people killed in the heartless Paris terror attacks, manhunts continued for possible suspects still on the loose on Monday.
Information gathered that one fugitive ‘blood brother’ has been caught in Belgium after fleeing Paris in the wake of the attacks. We’ve also learnt of new development from other sources. Details:
Official sources have identified the suspected mastermind as Belgian national Abdelhamid Abaaoud. Two more suicide bombers were identified by authorities on Monday. Paris prosecutors named an attacker who blew himself up in the Bataclan music hall Friday as Samy Amimour, a 28-year-old French national who was charged in a terrorism investigation in 2012.
Another bomber who targeted the national stadium was found with a Syrian passport with the name Ahmad Al Mohammad, a 25-year-old born in Idlib, prosecutors said.
To secure their country, French police seize a ROCKET LAUNCHER and huge cache of weapons in Lyon as more than 150 pre-dawn raids were made across the country. At least five suspects were arrested.
France’s military also launched “massive” retaliatory airstrikes against Islamic State sites in Syria on Sunday night, saying French aircraft struck a command center and training camp at Raqqa. French police, who said seven terrorists died in Friday’s attacks, on Sunday released the name of an eighth man still at large: 26yrs old Abdeslam Salah of Brussels.
Meanwhile, seven people were detained Sunday in Belgium in connection with the attacks, says AP.
From security findings, three teams of terrorists carried out attacks at six sites in the city using seven suicide bombs. Eighty-nine people were killed at the Bataclan concert hall, where terrorists triggered explosives and fired shots during a performance by the California rock band Eagles of Death Metal, according to Molins. Other victims were killed at a stadium and at cafes.
The Islamic State claimed responsibility on Saturday for the attacks in an online statement.
One of those who witnessed the terror recalled the experience:
“You think… what was that. You get down. You find yourself between dead bodies. You are afraid, you don’t know what’s happening – it’s like you are in a dream. You go out onto the street, there is no one, but there is blood everywhere,” says 36yrs old Pierre Marie Bertin who saw the events unfold.