Waiting For Word about Abdelhamin Abaaoud: Was He There Or Not, Was He Caught Or Not?

Sorry, an earlier update said he had been taken alive -- but when I listened again, I realized they said might have been taken alive, which is.... well, sure, that could have happened. Or maybe it didn't.

Updates: The mastermind is holed up in the apartment with several accomplices. Police and army troops are flooding the streets to prevent escape.

At the moment, they are not actually attempting re-entry.

But... it's coming, obviously. The worry, I have to think, is that that apartment is wired to blow up.

Update: In the first round of explosions (at around 11:50 Eastern, 5:50 Paris time), a female jihadi blew up her explosive belt, killing herself and at least one other terrorist. This might have caused the wounding of the two cops too (but I'm guessing that).

...

Update: Only one person was "lightly injured," this article says.

Wow. Sure seemed a lot more robust a vetting than that.

Saint Dennis is that bad banlieu (zone sensible) I mentioned the other day as more of a genuine no-go zone.

The raid was carried out by, um, RAID, the French counter-terrorism SWAT police. The dumb acronym is like SHIELD -- they just picked words to spell out RAID.

Live Coverage From France: Here.

New Video: Bring me everybody!

And:

New video. It's from a different angle, but it shows the same basic thing.

posted by Ace at 11:35 PM

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