The ISIS-inspired terrorist who the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) predicted six months ago would attack the West (France in particular), was killed by French authorities in a police raid yesterday. Abdelhamid Abaaoud, 27, and several others were discovered when police raided a suburban apartment in Saint-Denis on Wednesday.(1)
Prior to entering the home, special forces sent in a seven-year-old police dog to assess the level of danger. Diesel, a Belgian shepherd, was killed when a woman inside the apartment detonated a suicide bomb that was attached to her body.(2)
Abaaoud’s body was riddled with bullets during the raid, and eight others were arrested, reports NBC News. Although unconfirmed, the woman who blew herself up is believed to be the cousin of Abaaoud.(3)
Under the influence of ISIS, police say Abaaoud and others were planning yet another attack in the area, this time on Paris’ La Défense business district. The young jihadist is also believed to be involved in two attacks that were thwarted earlier this year: one on a Paris-bound high-speed train and another on a church near the French capital.
Jihadist suspected of planning series of attacks in West continuously evaded authorities
Younes Abaaoud, 13 (Credit: London Media)
Why Abaaoud was not stopped sooner remains a mystery. Reports surfaced over the last several days indicating that the DHS knew the identity of Abaaoud as early as January 2015, even predicting that he would orchestrate attacks in Europe including France, Greece, Spain and the Netherlands.
The DHS reportedly learned about Abaaoud’s identity following an anti-terrorism raid in Verviers, Belgium, in which two suspected terrorists with radical Islamic ties were killed and a third was arrested. Authorities say Abaaoud was masterminding future attacks in the West from Athens, Greece.
European security officials say they somehow lost track of Abaaoud as he traveled back to Syria and later back into Europe. He bragged about evading authorities in a magazine published by the Islamic State.
Police say the young jihadist became radicalized despite growing up in a “moderately successful family from Morocco,” according to The New York Times. He even recruited his 13-year-old brother to fight with him in Syria.(4)
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