French Police Identify One of Assailants in Paris Attacks Omar Ismail Mostefai identified from severed finger at Bataclan concert hall By Noemie Bisserbe
http://www.wsj.com/articles/french-police-identify-one-of-assailants-in-paris-attacks-1447578692
PARIS—French police on Sunday named a 29-year-old French national as one of the seven attackers who killed at least 129 people in the brutal onslaught in Paris that has sent shockwaves around the world.
Police said that Omar Ismail Mostefai was identified from a severed finger found at the Bataclan concert hall, where gunmen killed at least 89 people before blowing themselves up using explosive belts when police moved in.
The man, born in a Paris suburb, had eight convictions between 2004 and 2010 for petty crime and was on a watch list since 2010 for his alleged radical beliefs, Paris prosecutor François Molins said Saturday. French police haven’t yet named any of the other attackers.
Police detained seven of the Frenchman’s friends and family for questioning, including his brother and his father. Under France’s counterterrorism rules, they can be held in custody for 96 hours before prosecutors have to press charges or release the men.
The details emerging paint a potential picture of a well-coordinated effort across international borders in which Islamic State took advantage both of European citizens to launch attacks in tight coordination with militant groups and of the migrant crisis that has left EU borders overwhelmed.
Another of Friday’s attackers recently entered Europe as a Syrian migrant, people familiar with the matter said Saturday, suggesting gaps in the continent’s security. French investigators were able to match the remains of one of the suicide bombers who attacked France’s main stadium to a Syrian passport that was used to enter Europe’s free-travel area and apply for asylum, they said.
Police also said Sunday that a SEAT car with firearms inside, which may have been one of the vehicles used by the attackers on Friday night, has been found in Montreuil, a suburb on the eastern edge of Paris, not far from the scene of the attacks on Paris’s streets. It wasn’t clear how the car would have gotten there.
Another car, used in the concert-hall attack, was rented by a French national residing in Belgium, Mr. Molins said. Belgian authorities said that person had been apprehended while driving another car Saturday.
Belgian police have arrested a total of five suspects in connection with the Paris attacks in raids in Brussels, the mayor of the Molenbeek district where they took place said, raising the total of three given by Belgian prosecutors the day before.
The Paris attacks, which also injured at least 352, began on Friday evening at the Stade de France, France’s largest stadium, during an exhibition game between the national soccer teams of France and Germany. Three attackers set off suicide vests at the stadium, killing themselves and one other person.
Meanwhile, gunmen in a black SEAT drove around eastern Paris, firing at customers in several restaurants. The car arrived later at the Bataclan theater, where a large crowd were gather for a concert with California rock outfit Eagles of Death Metal. Three gunmen entered the theater began spraying the room, killing 89 people and injuring dozens more.
All of the gunmen wore suicide vests containing the explosive TATP, a chemical used in other terrorist attacks such as the London bombings of 2005, Mr. Molins said. The attackers either killed themselves by detonating their vests or were shot by police, he said.
European security officials have worried that Islamic State operatives would bring terror by mixing with Iraqi and Syrian migrants who are fleeing war each week. Greek authorities said the holder of the passport found at the stadium near Paris had been registered as a refugee on the island of Leros on Oct. 3.
Mr. Molins on Saturday confirmed a Syrian passport had been found near one of the attackers but stopped short of saying it was his. The prosecutors said he couldn’t disclose certain sensitive details of the investigation.
Jean-Claude Juncker, the president of the European Commission, urged Europeans not to confuse the attackers in Paris with refugees seeking shelter in the bloc.
“We should not mix the different categories of people coming to Europe. The one responsible for the attacks in Paris….he is a criminal and not a refugee and not an asylum seeker,” Mr. Juncker said.
French President François Hollande has vowed to retaliate against Islamic State, saying the attacks had been “prepared and planned from the outside, with accomplices inside.”
“France, because it was freely, cowardly attacked, will be merciless against the terrorists,” Mr. Hollande said in a televised address.
Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attacks on a social media account but didn’t provide specific information that would allow the claim to be verified. It said the attacks were retaliation for French airstrikes against the group in Syria and Iraq.
Mr. Hollande declared three days of mourning and said he would address the two houses of parliament in Versailles on Monday.
Streets in Paris were empty and quiet early Sunday after famed Parisian sights like the Eiffel Tower, museums such as the Louvre and departments stores were closed Saturday.
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