Death of the mastermind behind the Paris terrorist attacks confirmed

On Thursday, the Paris prosecutor's office announced that the body of Abdelhamid Abaaoud, referred to as the mastermind behind the Friday night terrorist attacks in Paris, has been identified among the casualties of a police raid on a neighborhood in northern Paris on Wednesday. In an official statement released by the French news agency, it was confirmed that the discovered corpse in a building in the Saint-Denis area of Paris belongs to 27-year-old Abdelhamid Abaaoud. Earlier, the American newspaper Washington Post reported, citing two senior European officials, that the death of this individual occurred during the operation on Wednesday morning, but this news had not yet been confirmed by the French government. Hours after the terrorist attacks last Friday night, which resulted in the deaths of at least 129 people, French security officials and media identified this Belgian-Moroccan as the planner and mastermind of these attacks. These attacks, described as the largest terrorist incident in French history, resulted in 129 deaths and dozens of injuries. The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for these attacks. Security forces in France and Belgium have recently conducted several operations in various locations in both countries to arrest suspects and individuals linked to these attacks. Among them, in the early morning of Wednesday, dozens of police officers, gendarmes, and French army soldiers raided the Saint-Denis neighborhood in northern Paris, killing at least one person and arresting eight suspects. A woman, apparently a relative of Abdelhamid Abaaoud, killed herself by detonating her suicide belt. In this context, the French Prime Minister warned that 'Islamism is the greatest security challenge of the 21st century' and raised concerns about the risk of a chemical attack.