The suspected Belgian mastermind of the recent terror attacks in Paris has been identified among the dead in Wednesday's police swoop in Saint-Denis commune, the Paris prosecutor's office says.
"Abdel Hamid Abaaoud has just been formally identified, after comparing fingerprints, as having been killed during the (police) raid [north of Paris]," the office said in a statement on Thursday.
"It was the body we had discovered in the building, riddled with bullets," it said.
French officials had accused the 28-year-old Abaaoud of orchestrating Friday’s coordinated bombings and shootings which killed over 130.
It was initially thought that Abaaoud was in Syria, but further investigations revealed that he was based in the Paris suburb of Saint-Denis. The Belgian militant had boasted of representing Daesh and mounting attacks in Europe.
Heavily armed police forces launched a raid before dawn on Wednesday to arrest the militant. The seven-hour shootout and siege led to the killing of two people in an apartment in Saint Denis, one of them a woman who allegedly killed herself before police commandos managed to break into the house.
The prosecutor had said that the other body was so riddled with bullets that it was difficult to identify him.
State of emergency extended
Also on Thursday, the French National Assembly voted to extend the state of emergency for three months following the Paris massacre.
The government initially imposed the state of emergency on Saturday, empowering police to search and detain suspects.
The measure will be put to vote in the French Senate on Friday.
Under new security measures, police officers in France will be allowed to carry weapons when they are off-duty. They are also required to wear a police armband to be identified.
Earlier in the day, French Prime Minister Manuel Valls said his country could risk chemical or biological warfare in its fight against the Daesh.
Following the Paris attacks, French President Francois Hollande pledged to intensify its contribution to a US-led coalition that is carrying out an aerial campaign against purported Daesh positions in Syria.
